▪ I. excoriate, v.
(ɛksˈkɔərɪeɪt)
Also pa. pple. 6–9 excoriate.
[f. L. excoriāt- ppl. stem of excoriāre to strip off the hide, f. ex- out + corium hide.]
† 1. trans. To pull off the skin or hide from (a man or beast); to flay. Obs.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World III. 41 Otanes..whom Cambyses had excoriated for false judgement. a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. iv. 13 Beasts..being excoriated or flayed, were cut down from the neck to the rump. a 1681 Wharton Fasts & Fest. Wks. (1683) 26 He [St. Bartholomew] was..Excoriated, or fleaed alive. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xv. 77 They compliment them [their victims] upon..the delicacy of their limbs prior to excoriating them. |
b. transf. To strip off the rind or bark from.
| 1775 Ash, Excoriating, taking off the bark. |
2. To remove portions of the skin (or analogous membrane) from. Now chiefly Path. of the action of corrosives, of abrasion, etc.
| 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. E ij a, Excoriate and wounde dayly theyr self with sharpe hayr. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xiii. 60 The intralls being excoriated, death by a lingering consumption ensueth. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 109 The ends of his Fingers are supposed to be excoriated. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 77 Stuffing my nose with spirit of hartshorn, till the whole inside was excoriated. 1857 C. Brontë Professor II. xx. 104 My lips..were excoriated as with vinegar and gall. 1867 F. H. Ludlow Little Briggs & I 201 The grand idea of how to fix it in a boy's memory was to excoriate his palm. |
3. transf. and fig.
| 1633 J. Fisher True Trojans iii. viii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 506 Though wrongs excoriate the heart. 1661 R. W. Conf. Charac., Colledge Butler (1860) 67 He can excoriate a loafe. 1708 Motteux Rabelais (1737) V. 233 Excoriating the Language Latiale. 1809 Naval Chron. XXV. 209 It [lightning] excoriated the lower part of the head post. |
4. To strip or peel off (the skin); to remove (the lining membrane) by corrosion.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cix. 41 b, Excoriat the skyn and maturat the matter. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 71 Because it may bee excoriated or flayed off. a 1691 Boyle Hist. Air xix. Wks. 1772 V. 694 The heat of the Island Squauena..excoriates the skin. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 445 To prevent..the matter..from excoriating the skin. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 62 Exuding acrid matter, and thereby excoriating the cuticle. |
Add: [3.] b. spec. To upbraid scathingly, decry, revile. Also absol.
| 1882 N.Y. Tribune 15 Mar. 4/3 How he [sc. Jackson] would excoriate Tilden for his copperheadism. 1931 O. Nash Free Wheeling 57 Britain and Britons I far from excoriate, I deeply admire their Poet Laureate. 1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 July 426/4 The Groves of Academe, an investigation of life on the faculty of an American college.., excoriates almost every member of the faculty. 1977 M. French Women's Room (1978) iv. 295 We excoriated THEM to the point of nausea. 1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. i. 7 He may lament, scold and excoriate, but he urges towards the peace of conservation. |
Hence exˈcoriating ppl. a.
| 1884 in N.E.D. s.v. Amyctic, a., Excoriating, irritating, vellicating. 1983 N.Y. Times 27 Mar. ii. 28/6 The lyrics are witless clichés that lack the excoriating humor and comic detail that animate Mr. Zappa's observations. |
▪ II. excoriate, pple. arch.
(ɛksˈkɔərɪeɪt)
Also 6–7 -at.
[ad. L. excoriāt-us, pa. pple. of excoriā-re: see next.]
A. Used as pa. pple. of prec. B. ppl. a. = next.
| 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1546) K j, If the bowels be excoriat, ye shal give thys peculiar remedy. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 344 Tratour..Thow seruis quick to be ex⁓coriate. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 109 While hips excoriat, made him swaddle Through all the corners of the saddle. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 5 A shattered veteran..with excoriate forks. 1814 Cary Dante 55 The pack..came Excoriate from the lash. |
† b. with allusion to the practice of circumcision.
| 1611 Panegyr. Verses in Coryat Crudities, He more prevail'd against the 'xcoriate Iewes Then Broughton could. |