?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 46 I, forsoþ, medle with it a litel of pulver of yere, malaxate [L. malaxatum]..with oleo de absinthio.

1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Physical Inst. iii, in Medicinal Dispensatory sig. R2^v Materials malaxated in Honey.

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Malaxate,..To soften, or knead to softness, any body.

1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 172 As soon as it has been malaxated..it is put into brown freestone pots.

1987 Hawley's Condensed Chem. Dict. (ed. 11) 725/1 Malaxate, to soften and mix dry materials in the presence of water or other liquid by rubbing, kneading, or rolling.

1735 J. Ferguson Let. 18 Feb. in Philos. Trans. 1737–8 (Royal Soc.) (1741) 40 426 The Abdomen was stuped twice a Day.., and after stuping it was always malaxated with an emollient Liniment.

1934 Nature 23 June 952/2 A queen of the allied species V. germanica was obtained, and this individual adopted the orphan brood just as completely as if it were her own. She accepted blow-fly puparia and caterpillars which she malaxated and fed to the brood.

1976 Melandria 26 22/2 D. arenaria queens in Colony A.56 were observed malaxating prey so frequently that it is likely all or most individuals engaged in it.

1976 Melandria 26 22/2 Queens usually malaxated for several minutes.

1991 Insectes Sociaux 38 139 Captured small prey were malaxated and carried to the nest.

1920 Ecology 1 183 The pellets of ants which excavate in sound or decaying twigs, stems, logs..,or utilize malaxated plant tissues in the construction of mounds or carton nests, have a relatively large admixture of vegetable débris.

1939 Stanford Univ. Publ. Biol. Sci. 8 iv. 112 Another worker carried a partially malaxated pellet composed..of a part of a spider.

1990 Atlantic July 67/2 Inside their nests the young perk up like birds to get a malaxated ration.