Word of the Day：June 27, 2021
desiccate
干燥；使脱水；用干燥法保存(食物)；使(生命力等)枯竭
verb DESS-ih-kayt
Definition
1：to dry up or become dried up
干涸、变得干涸
2：to preserve (a food) by drying：dehydrate
使脱水通过干燥保存(食物):使脱水
3：to drain of emotional or intellectual vitality
使精力枯竭使情感或智力活力枯竭
Examples
"Horticultural oils work by smothering insect and mite pests/eggs, and in breaking down their protective coatings, causing them to desiccate (dry out)." — Bracken Henderson, The Preston (Idaho) Citizen, 28 Apr. 2021
园艺油的作用原理是使昆虫和螨虫/卵窒息，并打破他们的保护层，使他们脱水致死。
"A title like 'pungent dins concentric' conjures minor Language poetry circa 1986, but Vanessa Couto Johnson's debut couldn't be less desiccated. Her strophic prose unfolds at a synaptic pace…." — Michael Robbins, The Chicago Tribune, 11 Dec. 2018
“像‘pungent dins concentric’ 这样的标题让人想起1986年的一些小语种诗歌，但凡妮莎·库托·约翰逊(Vanessa Couto Johnson)的处女作却丝毫没有新意。”她的散文 以a synaptic pace 展开……"
Did You Know?
Raisins are desiccated grapes; they're also dehydrated grapes. And yet, a close look at the etymologies of desiccate and dehydrate raises a tangly question. In Latin siccus means "dry," whereas the Greek stem hydr- means "water." So how could it be that desiccate and dehydrate are synonyms? The answer is in the multiple identities of the prefix de-. It may look like the same prefix, but the de- in desiccate means "completely, thoroughly," as in despoil ("to spoil utterly") or denude ("to strip completely bare"). The de- in dehydrate, on the other hand, means "remove," the same as it does in defoliate ("to strip of leaves") or in deice ("to rid of ice").
葡萄干是desiccated grapes「干燥的葡萄」；它们也是dehydrated grapes「脱水葡萄」。然而，仔细研究“desicdry”「干燥」和“dehydrate”「脱水」这两个词的词源，就会出现一个棘手的问题。在拉丁语中 siccus 的意思是“dry「干的」”，而希腊词干hydr- 的意思是“water「水」”。那为什么“desiccate「脱水」”和“dehydrate「脱水」”是同义词呢？答案就在前缀 de-的多重含义中。可能看起来是相同的，但de- 在decicdry的意思是“completely, thoroughly「完全，彻底」”，如 despoil (“to spoil utterly「彻底破坏」”)或 denude (“to strip completely bare「剥夺」”)。另一方面，de- in dehydrate的意思是“remove「去除」”，与 defoliate (“to strip of leaves「去除叶子」”)或deice(“除冰”)的意思相同。
Name That Synonym
Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of desiccate: _ it _ _ r.
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