▪ I. irritate, v.1
(ˈɪrɪteɪt)
[f. L. irrītāt-, ppl. stem of irrītā-re to incite, excite, provoke, irritate. Cf. irrite v.]
† 1. trans. To stir up, excite, provoke, incite, rouse (a person, etc.) to some action. Const. to, into, or inf. Obs. (or merged in 2.)
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xix, Suche daunsis, whiche..dyd with vnclene motions or countinances irritate the myndes of the dauncers to venereall lustes. 1626 Bacon Sylva §315 Cold maketh the Spirits vigorous, and irritateth them. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. Apol. 8 Least my touching that Controversie..might irritate him to fall upon it. 1795 Burke Let. Sir H. Langrishe 26 May, Whatever tends to irritate the talents of a country..is of infinite service to that formidable cause. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 43 His successor soon contrived to irritate into open resistance the new prince. |
† b. To stir up, excite, provoke, give rise to (an action, feeling, etc.); to excite to greater intensity, heighten, aggravate. Obs.
| 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Praise (Arb.) 354 To much magnifying of Man..doth irritate Contradiccion, and procure Envye and skorne. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 149 With us drink irritates quarrels. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 318 Oily Substances in themselves do not irritate or provoke Diarrhœas. 1738 G. Lillo Marina iii. ii. 45 Yet trouble, in her, irritates devotion. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. vi. (1869) I. 110 The disorder of his mind irritated the pains of his body. 1824 R. Hall Let. Wks. 1841 V. 539 Premature attempts to console only irritate the sorrows they are meant to heal. |
2. To excite to impatient or angry feeling; to exasperate, provoke; to vex, fret, annoy, ruffle the feelings of.
| 1598 Florio, Iritare, to irritate, or prouoke to ire. 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Irritate, to make angry. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Scot. (1655) 1 Irritated by the misdemeanour of his children. 1725 Pope Odyss. v. 186 Dismiss the man, nor irritate the god. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvi. iv, Let me beg you, Madam,..not to irritate his Worship. 1847 Mrs. A. Kerr Hist. Servia 319 He did not wish to irritate the enemy with insults. |
3. Path. To excite (a bodily organ or part) to morbid action, or to abnormal condition; to bring into a morbidly excited condition, or produce an uneasy sensation in.
| 1674 tr. Martiniere's Voy. N. Countries 111 From a great cold I had upon me,..which had irritated my pituitary glandule. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 260 By their Salts they irritate the Solids. 1836 J. M. Gully Magendie's Formul. (ed. 2) 27 The physicians..assert that it does not irritate the stomach, causes no headache, vertigo, nausea. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 256 It may inflame or irritate..the parts of the intestine with which it is brought into contact. |
4. Physiol. and Biol. To excite (an organ of an animal or plant) to some characteristic action or condition, as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus; to stimulate to vital action. (See irritable 3, irritability 3.)
| 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 131, I endeavour to irritate the three branches of the fifth pair, by means of Galvanism. 1874 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. ii. §68 (1879) 71 Irritating the soles, by tickling or otherwise. 1875 Darwin Insectiv. Pl. ii. 20 The central glands of a leaf were irritated with a small camel hair brush. |
▪ II. ˈirritate, v.2 Rom., Civil, and Sc. Law.
[f. L. irritāt-, ppl. stem of irritā-re to make void, f. irrit-us invalid: see irrite a.]
trans. To make void, render of no effect, nullify; = defeat v. 6 (the corresponding term in Eng. Law).
| 1605 Answ. Supposed Discov. Rom. Doctr. 42 Superiors..may irritate the oaths and vows also of their subiects. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. Pref. 4 Nor is there any thing more abominable, then to conceive that the Acts of mens Wills should irritate the Law of Nature. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 308 Such Will is irritated and made void. 1874 Act 37 & 38 Vict. c. 94 §4 All rights and remedies..for irritating the feu ob non solutum canonem. 1880 Muirhead Gaius ii. §148 A testament that..has..been broken or irritated. |
▪ III. † ˈirritate, ppl. a.1 Obs.
[ad. L. irrītāt-us, pa. pple. of irrītāre (see irritate v.1); but also capable of being viewed as a shortening of irritated.]
= irritated.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §709 The Heat becommeth more Violent, and Irritate; And thereby expelleth Sweat. 1712 A. Moncrieff in Young Life (1849) 26 Man being in this fallen, undone, and miserable condition, God's justice was irritate. |
▪ IV. † ˈirritate, ppl. a.2 Obs.
[ad. L. irritāt-us, pa. pple. of irritāre: see irritate v.2]
Rendered void or of no effect.
| 1600 F. Clark in Archpriest Controv. (Camden) I. 164 All confessions heard by vs [would be] voyd and irritat. |