What does "libate" mean?

To pour a liquid, most often wine, in sacrifice on the ground, on a ritual object, or on a victim, in honor of some deity.

Libate

//laɪˈbeɪt// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To pour a liquid, most often wine, in sacrifice on the ground, on a ritual object, or on a victim, in honor of some deity. intransitive
2
To drink an alcoholic beverage. intransitive

First attested in 1866; borrowed from Latin lībātus, perfect passive participle of lībō (“to pour out, taste”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.