Definitions

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  • verb Present participle of estivate.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • During our hot dry summers, we see them in huge clusters on boulders, tree branches and fenceposts as well as in tall grasses, piled up atop each other, estivating together.

    Otala lactea AYDIN 2008

  • I'd expect normal life spans for pulmonates to be rather short, though species in extreme environments might live longer due to estivating much of the year (like the over 200 year old mussels in Scandanavia). 60 years is long, though representatives of unrelated phyla are thought to last longer (tardigrades, rotifers, etc.)

    Why I am sceptical of Brenda's story AYDIN 2007

  • I'd also like to know more about the metabolic rates of active, resting and estivating land snails.

    Why I am sceptical of Brenda's story AYDIN 2007

  • At present Flinx knew she was estivating to conserve energy, something Alaspinian minidrags could do at will.

    Mid Flinx Foster, Alan Dean 1995

  • At present Flinx knew she was estivating to conserve energy, something Alaspinian minidrags could do at will.

    Mid Flinx Foster, Alan Dean 1995

  • Not till summer's fever gives place to gentle winter does it bloom and fruit; and estivating animals rise from their dens and migratory birds come home.

    The Queen of Air and Darkness Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1973

  • XII Most of the year, Vixen's northern half was simply desert, swamp, or prairie, where a quick vegetative life sprang up and animals that had been estivating crept from their burrows.

    Agent Of The Terran Empire Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1965

  • Turtles in the nature reserves responded to the drying up of the wetlands by estivating, lying dormant buried under leaf litter.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

  • A nonmutated Haluk person can still expect to spend 140 days estivating in a chrysalis, two hundred days as a gracilomorph, and sixty as a transitional lepidodermoid. "

    Perseus Spur May, Julian, 1931- 1998

Comments

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  • doin' it doggie style, if you get my drift. nudge, nudge, wink, wink. say no more, say no more.

    June 27, 2008

  • With a lot of howling?

    June 27, 2008

  • With a lot of howling?

    June 27, 2008

  • This is one of those words that sounds more innocent than its meaning. Sort of the opposite of my entendres r us words.

    June 27, 2008