Word of the Day Archive
Saturday November 10, 2012
nictitate \NIK-ti-teyt\
, verb:
To wink.
In Brakhage's hand- painted films, the isolated flecks, dripped trails, shaped smears, and layered washes of ink and paint all nictitate in bursts of patterned color against richly black ungiving grounds, flaring and disappearing with a rate that often renders them difficult to retain, or at times even to perceive with any certainty.
-- David E. James, Stan Brakhage: Filmmaker
The kid's upper lip is latticed with cracks and his eyes nictitate, a trace of buzz melting from them.
-- Don Waters, Desert Gothic
Nictitate stems from the Latin nictare, "to wink or blink."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for nictitate
