inviscate

I1N1V4I1S1C3A1T1E1

verb

To daub, catch, or entangle with glue or birdlime or other viscous matter.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

verbinviscate (third-person singular simple present inviscates, present participle inviscating, simple past and past participle inviscated)

present singular third person inviscates · participle present inviscating · participle past inviscated · past inviscated

  1. obsoletetransitiveTo daub, catch, or entangle with glue or birdlime or other viscous matter.

    […] withall its food being flies and such as suddenly escape, it hath in the tongue a mucous and slymy extremity, whereby upon a sudden emission it inviscates and tangleth those insects.

    1650, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Book 3, Chap. 21, "Of the Cameleon"

Origin

  1. Latininviscatus
  2. Englishinviscate

From Latin inviscatus, past participle of inviscare (“to birdlime”), from in- (“in”) + viscum, viscus (“mistletoe, birdlime”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

inviscate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inviscate

MLA

“inviscate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inviscate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inviscate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inviscate.

Source: inviscate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.