nictate
verbUK, US /nɪkˈteɪt/
Etymology First attested in 1755; borrowed from Latin nictātus, perfect passive participle of nictō (“to wink, blink”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
1
To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane.
- Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed.1909, Frederick Rolfe, Don Renato, Chatto & Windus, published 1963:
- Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating.1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
1 more example
- In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed.2011, Perry & Wharton, Molecular and Physiological Basis of Nematode Survival, page 113: