Meanings
present singular third person excorticates · participle present excorticating · participle past excorticated · past excorticated
- archaicobsoleteTo strip of bark, shell or skin.
The sap-wood of the excorticated winter-felled timber, kept in piles in his Majesty's yards, has rotted
1821, John Knowles, An Inquiry Into the Means which Have Been Taken to Preserve the British Navy […]2 more examples
Moſs is to be rubb'd and ſcrap'd off with ſome fit inſtrument of Wood, which may not excorticate the Tree, or with a piece of Hair-cloth after a ſobbing Rain: [...]
1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 69His mouth was dry and parched; his hands red and swollen, and looking about the nails as if he had been excorticating millions of new walnuts.
1842, Albert Smith, “Mr. Ledbury's Adventures at Home and Abroad (Chapter II)”, in Bentley's MiscellanySynonyms: decorticate, delibrate
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo strip of bark, shell or skin.
Origin
- Latinex“out”
- Englishexcorticate
From Latin ex (“out”), from cortex, corticis (“bark”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
excorticate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excorticate
“excorticate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excorticate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excorticate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excorticate.
Source: excorticate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.