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Emasculate
Definitions
- 1 Deprived of virility or vigor; unmanned, weak.
"If the Icelander in his native climate ever ſhould experience the impulſe of a painter's genius, the year itſelf would not ſupply many hours in which his fingers could obey its ſummons; and in the other extremity of climate, where every fibre is unſtrung by relaxation, all, who have experienced, know the inaptitude both of mind and body towards any action or employ of either; unfit alike for arts and arms, the emaſculate and ſoft inhabitant ſinks into ſloth and ſlumbers away a life, that ſcarce deſerves a better name than vegetation."
- 1 having unsuitable feminine qualities wordnet
- 1 To deprive of virile or procreative power; to castrate, to geld. transitive
"Castration has a ſtrange effect; it emaſculates both man, beaſt and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. Thus, eunuchs have ſmooth unmuſcular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, and beardleſs chins, and ſqueaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have hornleſs heads, like hinds and does."
- 2 remove the testicles of a male animal wordnet
- 3 To deprive of virile or procreative power; to castrate, to geld.; To remove the entire male genitalia (the testicles, scrotum, and penis) of (a person or animal). specifically, transitive
- 4 deprive of strength or vigor wordnet
- 5 To deprive of masculine vigor or spirit; to weaken; to render effeminate; to vitiate by unmanly softness. transitive
"[H]is Majeſty [...] is now reſolved (in proſecution of his priſtine Counſels) by force or policy to diſſolve this Parliament in diſcontent, as he hath done all former, and that with ſuch advantages of a generall ill opinion of Parliaments in the ignorant miſ-informed vulgar on the one hand, and of a prevailing counquering power on his part on the other hand, as ſhall either utterly extinguiſh the hopes and Bill of ſummoning any future trienniall Parliamentary Aſſemblies, or at leaſt ſo emaſculate the vigour, and eclipſe the power of them, if called; [...]"
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- 6 Of a flower: to deprive of the anthers. transitive
"It is well understood that in artificial cross-fertilizing, in order to prevent self-fecundation, we emasculate the flower from which we wish to obtain the seeds for new varieties; that is, we remove the anthers from that flower, and in the proper season apply to the stigma the pollen from some other distinct flower."
Etymology
From Medieval Latin ēmasculātus, perfect passive participle of ēmasculō (“to emasculate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ē(x)- (“out, from, apart”) + masculus (“male, masculine”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), further from mās (“a man, a male”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ēmasculātus (more at Etymology 1), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
See also for "emasculate"
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