macerate

present singular third person macerates · participle present macerating · participle past macerated · past macerated

1. To soften (something) or separate it into pieces by (or as if by) soaking it in a heated or unheated liquid.
2. To reduce solids to small pieces (in a macerator).

   Near-synonyms: comminute, crush, pulverize

   1 more example

   Like gas killing, IMD - whereby the interlocking arms of a machine are used to crush chicks, or the rapidly rotating blades used to macerate them - is a permitted killing method for day-old chicks in the UK and EU, and this method is still used by some hatcheries.

   2024, Josh Loeb, “Day-Old Chick Slaughter "Not Inhumane"”, in The Veterinary Record (Usenet), retrieved 27 Sep 2026

   Synonyms: comminute, crush, pulverize

3. archaicTo make lean; to cause to waste away.

   Baal scuttles with ten tails Between as many legs as he could carry— Perhaps Thomas poking through the holes And finding resolution beyond the scales And incorporeal pain of the hammered Messiah,

   2006, David Tibet; Michael Cashmore (lyrics and music), “The Dissolution Of The Boat ‘Millions Of Years’”, in Black Ships Ate the Sky, performed by Current 93

4. obsoleteTo subdue the appetite by poor or scanty diet; to mortify.
5. obsoleteTo mortify the flesh in general.

   1 more example

   “My dear child, how are you employed?” I knew the voice of the Superior, and I replied, “My father, I was sleeping.” “And I was macerating myself at the foot of the altar for you, my child,—the scourge is red with my blood.” I returned no answer, for I felt the maceration was better merited by the betrayer than the betrayed.

   1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 243

6. obsoleteparticiplepastpast participle of macerateFirst known use 1541–1632

plural macerates

1. A macerated substance.First known use 1941