Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To perform an act of masturbation.
  • intransitive verb To perform an act of masturbation on.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To commit self-abuse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To achieve sexual gratification by stimulating one's own sexual organs, without the aid of a partner; -- typically to the point of orgasm.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To stimulate oneself sexually, especially by use of one’s hand, sometimes with a partner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stimulate sexually
  • verb get sexual gratification through self-stimulation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin masturbārī, masturbāt-.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Derivation uncertain; one suggestion is Latin masturbare, from mas, from manus ("hand") + turbare ("to throw into disorder"), whence the words disturb and trouble.

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  • How is masturbate an informal term?

    March 25, 2017