Adjacent Words

Aspirate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AS'PIRATE, v.t. [L. aspiro, to breathe or blow; Gr. to palpitate, from spiro. See Spire, Spirit.]
To pronounce with a breathing or full emission of breath. We aspirate the words horse and house.
AS'PIRATE, v.i. To be uttered with a strong breathing; as, the letter h aspirates.
AS'PIRATE, n. A letter marked with an asper, or note of breathing; a mark of aspiration, as the Greek accent.
AS'PIRATE, a. Pronounced with a full breath.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a consonant pronounced with aspiration v
1: remove as if by suction; "aspirate the wound" [syn: aspirate, draw out, suck out]
2: pronounce with aspiration; of stop sounds
3: suck in (air)

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1617 1. an independent sound h or a character (as the letter h) representing it 2. a consonant having aspiration as its final component <in English the p of pit is an aspirate> 3. material removed by aspiration II. transitive verb (-rated; -rating) Etymology: Latin aspiratus, past participle of aspirare Date: circa 1700 1. to pronounce (a vowel or a consonant) with aspiration (sense 1a) 2. a. to draw by suction b. to remove (as blood) by aspiration c. to take into the lungs by aspiration

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. Phonet. --adj. 1 pronounced with an exhalation of breath. 2 blended with the sound of h. --n. 1 a consonant pronounced in this way. 2 the sound of h. --v. 1 a tr. pronounce with a breath. b intr. make the sound of h. 2 tr. draw (fluid) by suction from a vessel or cavity. Etymology: L aspiratus past part. of aspirare: see ASPIRE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Aspirate As"pi*rate, n. 1. A sound consisting of, or characterized by, a breath like the sound of h; the breathing h or a character representing such a sound; an aspirated sound.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Aspirate As"pi*rate ([a^]s"p[i^]*r[asl]t), Aspirated As"pi*ra"ted (-r[=a]"t[e^]d), a. [L. aspiratus, p. p.] Pronounced with the h sound or with audible breath. But yet they are not aspirate, i. e., with such an aspiration as h. --Holder.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Aspirate As"pi*rate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Aspirated; p. pr. & vb. n. Aspirating.] [L. aspiratus, p. p. of aspirare to breathe toward or upon, to add the breathing h; ad + spirare to breathe, blow. Cf. Aspire.] To pronounce with a breathing, an aspirate, or an h sound; as, we aspirate the words horse and house; to aspirate a vowel or a liquid consonant.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Aspirated, toneless, unintonated, atonic, surd, pronounced with a simple breathing, not vocal, without vocality, without tone. 2. Pronounced with the rough breathing. II. n. (Gram.) Rough breathing. III. v. a. Pronounce with an aspirate or rough breathing.

Moby Thesaurus

breathe, breathe in, coo, draw in, inhale, inspire, maffle, mumble, murmur, mussitate, mutter, sigh, slurp, sniff, sniffle, snuff, snuff in, snuffle, suck, suck in, suckle, susurrate, whisper