salivate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb produce saliva
    • We salivated when he described the great meal
  2. verb be envious, desirous, eager for, or extremely happy about something
    drool.
    • She was salivating over the raise she anticipated

WordNet

Sal"i*vate transitive verb
Etymology
L. salivatus, p.p. of salivare to salivate. See Saliva.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Salivated ; present participle & verbal noun Salivating
Definitions
  1. To produce an abnormal flow of saliva in; to produce salivation or ptyalism in, as by the use of mercury.
Sal"i*vate intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To produce saliva, esp. in excess.
  2. To drool.
  3. (Fig.) To anticipate keenly with pleasure, as though salivating at the expectation of a delicious meal. Used often with over.; as, salivate over the prospects of high profits from an enterprise. Probably influenced by the experiments of Pavlov, who trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell, by previously ringing the bell immediately prior to feeding them.

Webster 1913