triturate, v.
(ˈtrɪtjʊəreɪt)
[f. late L. trītūrāt-, ppl. stem of trītūrāre to thresh, f. L. trītūra triture. Cf. F. triturer (16th c.).]
trans. To reduce to fine particles or powder by rubbing, bruising, pounding, crushing, or grinding; to comminute, pulverize; also, to mix (solids, or a solid and a liquid) in this way. a. Pharm., Geol., etc.
| [1623 Cockeram ii, To thresh corne, triturate.] 1755 Johnson, Triturable..(from triturate). 1771 T. Percival Ess. (1777) I. 60 The mixture was well triturated in a marble mortar. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 224 Sometimes brittle, sometimes tough according to the proportion of Mercury principally when triturated. 1826 Henry Elem. Chem. II. 99 Triturate in a mortar, and put the mixture..into a phial. 1862 Dana Man. Geol. §51. 49 Rock made from shells..triturated into a calcareous earth by the sea. |
b. Phys. said of the action of the molar teeth, the gizzard, etc. upon the food.
| 1822 [see triturating below]. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 311/1 It [the food] is triturated..by the mandibles certainly [in Parrots]. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 269 By the act of mastication..the food is triturated and mingled with the salivary secretion. 1881 Darwin Veg. Mould 81 Worms swallow many little stones,..it is probable that they serve, like mill-stones, to triturate their food. |
c. fig.| 1848 Landor Imag. Conv. Ser. v. Thiers & Lamartine, At first we were tickled, at last we were triturated. 1881 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 542 The raw ingredients of our national admixture are supplied quite as rapidly as the whirl and stir of the popular system can triturate and commingle them. |
Hence
ˈtriturated,
ˈtriturating ppl. adjs.| 1777 Cook Voy. Pacific ii. viii. (1784) I. 331 Where the shore is low, the soil is commonly sandy, or rather composed of *triturated coral. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 508 The triturated barley grain First duly sprinkling. 1839 Darwin Voy. Nat. xix. (1852) 439 Gorges..through which the whole vast amount of triturated matter must have been carried away. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxv. 547 Three or four ten- to thirty-grain doses of well triturated thymol in cachets. |
| 1822 J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 312 In this [fossil elephant's] tooth..there are only thirteen plates, nine..of which are seen on the *triturating surface. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 318/2 The triturating action of the gizzard. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) §41 The abrading, triturating power of water. |