desiccate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb preserve by removing all water and liquids from
    dehydrate.
    • carry dehydrated food on your camping trip
  2. verb remove water from
    dehydrate.
    • All this exercise and sweating has dehydrated me
  3. verb lose water or moisture
    dehydrate; dry up; exsiccate.
    • In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly
  4. adjective satellite lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless
    desiccated; arid.
    • a technically perfect but arid performance of the sonata
    • a desiccate romance
    • a prissy and emotionless creature...settles into a mold of desiccated snobbery"-C.J.Rolo

WordNet

Des"ic*cate transitive verb
Etymology
L. desiccatus, p. p. of desiccare to dry up; de- + siccare to dry, siccus dry. See Sack wine.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Desiccated; present participle & verbal noun Desiccating
Definitions
  1. To dry up; to deprive or exhaust of moisture; to preserve by drying; as, to desiccate fish or fruit.
    Bodies desiccated by heat or age. Bacon.
Des"ic*cate intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become dry.

Webster 1913