▪ I. † exˈcruciate, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. excruciātus, pa. pple. of excruciāre: see next.]
a. = excruciated ppl. a. ¶ b. = excruciating ppl. a.
| a 1615 Beaumont & Fletcher (W.), Would she sit thus then excruciate? 1615 Chapman Odyss. vii. 398 My heart, long time excruciate, Amongst the leaves I rested all that night. 1773 J. Ross Fratricide (MS.) ii. 620 Excruciate pains Seiz'd on our Father's frame. |
▪ II. excruciate, v.
(ɛkˈskruːʃɪˌeɪt)
Also 7 excruciat, -tiat(e.
[f. L. excruciāt- ppl. stem of excruciāre, f. ex- intensive (see ex- prefix1 2) + cruciāre to torment, f. cruc-em cross.]
1. † a. lit. To subject to torture, put on the rack, etc.; fig. to ‘rack’ (one's brains) (obs.). b. transf. To cause intense pain to, torment acutely (a person's senses). Often hyperbolical.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 41 To Excruciate, excruciare. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 154 They..by pining and excruciating their bodies, liue in hell here on earth, to auoid the hell neuer ending. 1593 ― Four Lett. Confut. 56 You shall not excruciate your braine to be conceited and haue no wit. 1623 Cockeram 111, Perillus..invented a brazen Bull..made redhot to torment and excruciate malefactors. 1717 Bullock Wom. a Riddle i. i. May convulsions seize and excruciate my optick nerves. 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 256 The bassoon, on which George Evans was wont..to excruciate the ears of the whole congregation. |
2. fig. To torture mentally, inflict extreme mental anguish upon.
| 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. i, This..doth excruciate The very substance of my vexed soul. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. i. xi. (1668) 61 He must..neither vex nor excruciate himself with losses or mischances. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 617/2 He neither blunts his mind, nor excrutiats it with cares. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 47 ¶17 If a customer talks longer than he is willing to hear, he will complain that he has been excruciated with unmeaning verbosity. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxvi. 445 He described himself as excruciated with anxiety. |
| absol. 1651 Charleton Ephes. & Cimm. Matrons ii. (1668) 44 Their joys are infested with such calamities, that they excruciate. |
Hence exˈcruciated ppl. a., tormented, tortured.
| 1792 Minstrel (1793) I. 80 Oh my excruciated heart! |