excrete, v.
(ɛkˈskriːt)
[f. L. excrēt- ppl. stem of excernĕre, f. ex- out + cernĕre to separate, sift. See excern.]
1. trans. Of animals and plants or their organs: To separate (chiefly waste matters) from the vital fluids preparatory to discharging from the system; to separate and expel from the system through the emunctory organs; often used with reference to the process of expulsion merely.
| 1668 Phil. Trans. III. 890 Nature copiously excretes by the Reins..a liquor..compounded of Aqueous, Saline, Sulphury, and other particles. 1720 W. Gibson Diet. Horses iv. (ed. 3) 58 Things excreted and retained. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xix. (1803) 366 Slime excreted by the animal's skin. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 401/1 A sanguineous fluid is excreted from the bladder. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1873) 73 Certain plants excrete sweet juice. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. iii. 79 Animals..live by absorbing oxygen and excreting carbonic acid. |
† b. intr. for refl. with forth.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta (1650) 301 Vaporous fumes that excrete forth from the brain. |
c. absol. (In quot. 1832 humorously for ‘spit’.)
| 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXI. 830 English ‘commercial gentlemen’ excrete in spit-boxes. 1872 Huxley Phys. i. 15 The body feeds, and it excretes. 1881 Mivart Cat 232 The lungs excrete. |
† 2. Of drugs, etc., and of personal agents: To cause the excretion of. Also with forth, out. Obs.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 36 It..maketh the body soluble, by excreting forth of yellow cholericke humors. Ibid. vii. 119 They loose the belly, and excrete out choler. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶187 Adæquate meanes to excrete the catarrhous matter. |
Hence exˈcreted ppl. a., sifted out and discharged. exˈcreter, that which excretes or discharges. exˈcreting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xiii. Wks. 1825 III. 145 The nature and quality of the excreted substance. 1844–57 G. Bird Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 449 This remarkable critical increase in the excreted solids of the urine is observed. 1849 J. F. W. Johnston Exp. Agric. 32 Excreting is the final function exercised by the animal in reference to its food. 1852–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 843/2 The skin is..an active excreter of free phosphoric..acids. 1855 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. (1872) I. i. v. 92 The excreting structures of the skin. |