▪ I. † ˈevirate, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. ēvirāt- ppl. stem of ēvirāre: see next.]
Castrated, emasculated; deprived of manly strength or vigour.
| 1606 Holland Sueton. Annot. 15 The water..drunken, caused men to be evirate and effeminate. 1609 ― Amm. Marcel. xxvii. x. 321 A certaine esquier or targuetier, borne a verie evirate Eunuch. 1650 Charleton Paradoxes Prol. 11 Nature is not yet evirate, but holds out bravely. |
▪ II. evirate, v.
(ˈiːvɪreɪt, ˈɛvɪreɪt)
[f. L. ēvirāt- ppl. stem of ēvirāre to deprive of virility, f. ē out + vir man.]
trans. To deprive of virility or manhood. a. To castrate (a male). b. To deprive of manly qualities or attributes; to render unmanly in character or appearance.
| a. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. (1651) 312 Some Philosophers and Divines have evirated themselves, and put out their eyes voluntarily the better to contemplate. 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. i. §4 Origen and some others that have voluntarily evirated themselves. 1846 Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. II. 280 The Pope offered a hundred marks in Latin to whoever should eviscerate and evirate him [Doctor Glaston]. |
| b. 1626 W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 272 How doth it [idleness] euirate, un-man men? 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 131 Without..impiety [we] cannot..eradicate our Beard..but we must renounce that, and account it for a sport so fondly to Evirate ourselves. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 90 On thee whose life work preached ‘Raise soul, sink sense! Evirate Hermes!’ |
Hence ˈevirating, vbl. n.
| 1657 Reeve God's Plea 245 Oh, look with shame..upon this wofull evirating, or dis-humaning yourselves. |