Nictate

//nɪkˈteɪt// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane. intransitive

    "Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed."

  2. 2
    briefly shut the eyes wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
blinkblinknictitatewinkwink

Example

More examples

"Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed."

Etymology

First attested in 1755; borrowed from Latin nictātus, perfect passive participle of nictō (“to wink, blink”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Related phrases

nictating membrane

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