percolate
English
WOTD – 10 November 2006
Etymology
From Latin percōlātus, past participle of percōlō (“I filter”), itself, from per (“through”) + cōlō (“I strain”) (from cōlum (“a strainer”), of unknown origin).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɜːkəleɪt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɝkəleɪt/, (nonstandard) /ˈpɝkjəleɪt/
Audio (UK): (file) Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
percolate (third-person singular simple present percolates, present participle percolating, simple past and past participle percolated)
- (transitive) To pass a liquid through a porous substance; to filter.
- 1926, Joseph Price Remington, Ernest Fullerton Cook, Charles Herbert La Wall, Remington's Practice of Pharmacy:
- Fluidextracts are liquid alcoholic preparations of uniform and definite strength, made by percolating drugs with menstrua, and concentrating a portion of the percolate […]
- (intransitive) To drain or seep through a porous substance.
- Water percolates through sand.
- (transitive) To make (coffee) in a percolator.
- I'll percolate some coffee.
- 2005, Mark F. Sohn, Appalachian Home Cooking, page 36:
- Boiled, percolated, pressed, or filtered, black coffee ranges from a light tea-like drink to deep black brew.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To spread slowly or gradually; to slowly become noticed or realised.
- Reports on the pitiful state of many prisons have finally percolated through to the Home Office, which has promised to look into the situation.
- Through media reports it percolated to the surface that the police investigation was profoundly flawed.
- 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:
- […] so that quite a perceptible interval of time elapsed before the true dimensions of the affront to his dignity commenced to percolate into the befogged and pain-racked convolutions of his brain.
- 2011, Jaroslav Pokorny, Vaclav Repa, Karel Richta, Wita Wojtkowski, Henry Linger, Chris Barry, Michael Lang, Information Systems Development: Business Systems and Services: Modeling and Development, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 88:
- Some are prepared to pay for placement; others use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) hoping their result percolates up the organic SERP.
- 2020 November 13, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “Benee’s ‘Hey u x’ illustrates the upside of TikTok-dominated pop”, in Financial Times[1]:
- The moves were a TikTokky blend of semaphore and street dance, busy with content. The teen, whose name is Zoi Lerma, has a large following on the network and her dance percolated around the world, with other celebrated TikTokkers adding their own versions.
Related terms
Translations
(transitive) pass a liquid through a porous substance
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(intransitive) drain through a porous substance
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(transitive) to make coffee in a percolator
(intransitive) to make coffee in a percolator
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(intransitive) spread slowly or gradually
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Noun
percolate (plural percolates)
- (rare) A liquid that has been percolated.
- 1926, Joseph Price Remington, Ernest Fullerton Cook, Charles Herbert La Wall, Remington's Practice of Pharmacy:
- Fluidextracts are liquid alcoholic preparations of uniform and definite strength, made by percolating drugs with menstrua, and concentrating a portion of the percolate […]
Translations
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology 1
Verb
percolate
- inflection of percolare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
Etymology 2
Participle
percolate f pl
- feminine plural of percolato
Latin
Verb
percōlāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of percōlō
Spanish
Verb
percolate