CASTRATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does castrate mean? 

• CASTRATE (noun)
  The noun CASTRATE has 1 sense:

1. a man who has been castrated and is incapable of reproduction

  Familiarity information: CASTRATE used as a noun is very rare.

• CASTRATE (verb)
  The verb CASTRATE has 4 senses:

1. deprive of strength or vigor

2. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

3. remove the testicles of a male animal

4. remove the ovaries of

  Familiarity information: CASTRATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CASTRATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A man who has been castrated and is incapable of reproduction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

castrate; eunuch

Context example:

eunuchs guarded the harem

Hypernyms ("castrate" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Derivation:

castrate (remove the testicles of a male animal)

• CASTRATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they castrate    ... he / she / it castrates   
Past simple: castrated   
Past participle: castrated   
-ing form: castrating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive of strength or vigor

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

castrate; emasculate

Context example:

The Senate emasculated the law

Hypernyms (to "castrate" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bowdlerise; bowdlerize; castrate; expurgate; shorten

Context example:

bowdlerize a novel

Hypernyms (to "castrate" is one way to...):

abbreviate; abridge; contract; cut; foreshorten; reduce; shorten (reduce in scope while retaining essential elements)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

castration (the deletion of objectionable parts from a literary work)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Remove the testicles of a male animal

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

castrate; demasculinise; demasculinize; emasculate

Hypernyms (to "castrate" is one way to...):

desex; desexualise; desexualize; fix; sterilise; sterilize; unsex (make infertile)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "castrate"):

caponise; caponize (convert a cock into a capon)

cut; geld (cut off the testicles (of male animals such as horses))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

castrate (a man who has been castrated and is incapable of reproduction)

castration (neutering a male animal by removing the testicles)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove the ovaries of

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

alter; castrate; neuter; spay

Context example:

Is your cat spayed?

Hypernyms (to "castrate" is one way to...):

desex; desexualise; desexualize; fix; sterilise; sterilize; unsex (make infertile)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "castrate"):

defeminise; defeminize (remove the ovaries of (female mammals such as cats))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

castration (surgical removal of the testes or ovaries (usually to inhibit hormone secretion in cases of breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men))

neutering (the sterilization of an animal)

 Context examples 

He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own and other countries, the Yahoos acted as the governing, rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude; that he observed in me all the qualities of a Yahoo, only a little more civilized by some tincture of reason, which, however, was in a degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm race, as the Yahoos of their country were to me; that, among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy and safe; that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry is taught by the ant, and building by the swallow (for so I translate the word lyhannh, although it be a much larger fowl); that this invention might be practised upon the younger Yahoos here, which besides rendering them tractable and fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole species, without destroying life; that in the mean time the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the breed of asses, which, as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the others are not till twelve.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But it is impossible to express his noble resentment at our savage treatment of the Houyhnhnm race; particularly after I had explained the manner and use of castrating horses among us, to hinder them from propagating their kind, and to render them more servile.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I answered that our horses were trained up, from three or four years old, to the several uses we intended them for; that if any of them proved intolerably vicious, they were employed for carriages; that they were severely beaten, while they were young, for any mischievous tricks; that the males, designed for the common use of riding or draught, were generally castrated about two years after their birth, to take down their spirits, and make them more tame and gentle; that they were indeed sensible of rewards and punishments; but his honour would please to consider, that they had not the least tincture of reason, any more than the Yahoos in this country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)