Manducate

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To chew (something); to masticate. literary, transitive
  2. 2
    chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth wordnet
  3. 3
    To eat (something). literary, transitive

    "If we manducate bread, then it is capable of all the natural alterations, and it cannot be denied. But if we manducate Christ's body after a natural manner, what worse thing is it, that it descends into the guts, than that it goes into the stomach; to be cast forth, than to be torn in pieces with the teeth, as I have proved that it is by the Roman doctrine?"

Example

More examples

"If we manducate bread, then it is capable of all the natural alterations, and it cannot be denied. But if we manducate Christ's body after a natural manner, what worse thing is it, that it descends into the guts, than that it goes into the stomach; to be cast forth, than to be torn in pieces with the teeth, as I have proved that it is by the Roman doctrine?"

Etymology

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin mandūcātus, perfect passive participle of to chew, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French manger.

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