Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To make tender; soften.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Made tender; tender; soft; intenerated.
  • To make tender; soften.

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

  • adjective obsolete Made tender or soft; softened.
  • transitive verb To make tender or sensitive; to soften.

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

  • verb transitive To soften; tenderize.

Etymologies

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

[in– + Latin tener, tender; see tender + –ate.]

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Examples

  • I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety.

    The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. 2004

  • Thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and felspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in and keeps her balance true.

    V. Essays. Compensation. 1841 1909

  • I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety.

    Life Of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887

  • Thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and felspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in and keeps her balance true.

    Essays — First Series Ralph Waldo Emerson 1842

  • Thus she contrives to intenerate [100] the granite and felspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in, and keeps her balance true.

    Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 1842

  • Thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and felspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in, and keeps her balance true.

    Essays: First Series (1841) 1841

  • I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety.

    Life of Johnson, Volume 1 1709-1765 James Boswell 1767

  • I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety.

    Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood James Boswell 1767

Comments

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  • Be sweet at the start and intenerate

    And hope that your arguments penetrate.

    If the blockhead's unmoved

    By good sense, though proved,

    Then seize him and quickly defenestrate,

    May 31, 2017