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Definition 2024
duodecimate
duodecimate
Translingual
Adjective
duodecimate
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{{rfdef}}.- 1966, Kenneth Frederick Gordon Hosking and Godfrey John Shrimpton [eds.], Present Views of Some Aspects of the Geology of Cornwall and Devon, page 69
- At Penfoot (SX 302833) the upper horizons have yielded…the trilobites Cyrtosymbole (Macrobole) drewerensis and C. (Macrobole) duodecimate.
- 1966, Kenneth Frederick Gordon Hosking and Godfrey John Shrimpton [eds.], Present Views of Some Aspects of the Geology of Cornwall and Devon, page 69
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dyo͞o'ōdĕʹsĭmət, IPA(key): /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmət/
Noun
duodecimate (plural not attested)
- (rare) duodecimvirate
- 1851, Matthew LaRue Perrine Thompson, The Church, Its Ministry and Worship, page 95
- We affirm, that to all eternity the apostles are to be twelve, among all the redeemed, a conspicuous, glorious, unassociated duodecimate.
- 1924, The Pharmaceutical Era LIX, page 565
- There was there impanelled to serve as jurors [a] duodecimate of “impartial and unwitting persons”.
- 1851, Matthew LaRue Perrine Thompson, The Church, Its Ministry and Worship, page 95
Etymology 2
Either from the Latin duodecimō (“I take one twelfth”) or an alteration of the Latin duodecimus (“twelfth”) by analogy with decimate.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dyo͞o'ōdĕʹsĭmāt, IPA(key): /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmeɪt/
Verb
duodecimate (past participle duodecimated)
- (rare, attested in the past participle only) Kill one twelfth of a group of people, especially by lot.
- 1868, Sydney Punch VIII, page 93
- The French squadron…opened fire at a distance far beyond the range of our rifles, and the carnage in our ranks was fearful. We were being gradually duodecimated.
- 1974, Jean d’Ormesson, The Glory of the Empire, page 298
- The barbarians were duodecimated — i.e., one out of every twelve was beheaded.
- 2009, Tom McMorrow, Having Fun With Words of Wit and Wisdom, page 75
- If they had duodecimated a legion…rather than…decimate them…, two [fewer] guys per unit would have had to be killed.
- 1868, Sydney Punch VIII, page 93
- (rare, attested in the past participle only) Divide into twelfths; divide duodecimally.
- 1899, Current Literature XXV, page 116
- He has duodecimated his difficulties by choosing twelve boy “heroes.”
- 1928, Sir John Collings Squire and Rolfe Arnold Scott-James, The London Mercury XVIII, page 446
- Already [Sir James Frazer] has epitomized, and so to speak, duodecimated, the Golden Bough, while Lady Frazer has culled a florilegium from his works.
- 1899, Current Literature XXV, page 116