duodecimate meaning (rare): definition, etymology and quotations

duodecimate

noun

UK /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmət/

Etymology From Latin duodecimatus, from duodecim (“twelve”) + -ātus (“-ate”).

No plural, Rare Synonym of duodecimvirate: a group of twelve.

We affirm, that to all eternity the apostles are to be twelve, among all the redeemed, a conspicuous, glorious, unassociated duodecimate.1851, Matthew LaRue Perrine Thompson, The Church, Its Ministry and Worship, page 95:
There was there impanelled to serve as jurors [a] duodecimate of “impartial and unwitting persons”.1924, The Pharmaceutical Era, LIX, page 565:

verb

UK /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmeɪt/

Etymology Either from the Latin duodecimō (“to take one twelfth”) or an alteration of the Latin duodecimus (“twelfth”) by analogy with decimate.

Rare To kill one twelfth of a group of people, especially by lot.

Attested in the past participle only

The French squadron…opened fire at a distance far beyond the range of our rifles, and the carnage in our ranks was fearful. We were being gradually duodecimated.1868, Sydney Punch, VIII, page 93:
The barbarians were duodecimated — i.e., one out of every twelve was beheaded.1974, Jean d’Ormesson, The Glory of the Empire, page 298:

1 more example

If they had duodecimated a legion…rather than…decimate them…, two [fewer] guys per unit would have had to be killed.2009, Tom McMorrow, Having Fun With Words of Wit and Wisdom, page 75:

Rare To divide into twelfths; to divide duodecimally.

Attested in the past participle only

He has duodecimated his difficulties by choosing twelve boy “heroes.”1899, Current Literature, XXV, page 116:
Already [Sir James Frazer] has epitomized, and so to speak, duodecimated, the Golden Bough, while Lady Frazer has culled a florilegium from his works.1928, Sir John Collings Squire, Rolfe Arnold Scott-James, The London Mercury, XVIII, page 446:

Coordinate terms: tertiate, quintate, sextate, septimate, decimate, centesimate