castrate
/kaˈstreɪt
/ /ˈkastreɪt /verb [with object]
1Remove the testicles of (a male animal or man).Male calves were castrated either at birth, at time of initial vaccination, or at weaning....
- At birth, calves were identified with a numbered ear tag, they were weighed, sex was recorded, and male calves were castrated.
- Nine cats were castrated males; three cats were females: two of them were spayed.
Synonyms
neuter, geld, cut, emasculate, desex, sterilize, unman, remove the testicles of;
North American & Australian alter
informal doctor, fix
rare evirate, caponize, eunuchize
1.1Deprive of power, vitality, or vigour: a restrictive classicism would have castrated England’s literature
noun
A man or male animal whose testicles have been removed: young human castrates, or eunuchs...
- Historians interested in the development of musical castrati in Europe often point to Islamic Spain as the source of early castrates and the medieval practice of castration.
- Agueda Yzquierdo, for instance, could recall the castration of Juan de Aleson, the full castrate who later married Maria de Legaria.
- Pope Sixtus V unequivocally prohibited marriage to castrates in 1587 when he responded to the Spanish papal nuncio's question about several women in Madrid who had married eunuchs.
Derivatives
castrator
- Although their roles as parasitic castrators has been documented, relatively little is known about the biology of ciliate parasites in mayflies.
- Indeed, some parasites are castrators, completely destroying the host's reproductive machinery.
Origin
Mid 16th century (earlier (Middle English) as castration): from Latin castrare.