Meanings
verbpollicate (third-person singular simple present pollicates, present participle pollicating, simple past and past participle pollicated)
present singular third person pollicates · participle present pollicating · participle past pollicated · past pollicated
- To gesture with the thumb.
‘Disgusting? this is Tea, Friend, Cha,— what all tasteful London drinks,– that,’ pollicating the Coffee-Pot, ‘is what’s disgusting.’
1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 467
adjectivepollicate (not comparable)
- not comparablebiologyOf insects: having a curved projection or spine on the inner side of a leg joint.
Origin
- Latinpollex“thumb, big toe”
- Englishpollicate
From Latin pollex (“thumb, big toe”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
pollicate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollicate
MLA
“pollicate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollicate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pollicate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollicate.
Source: pollicate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.