Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To secrete or produce saliva.
  • intransitive verb Informal To be full of desire or eagerness for something.
  • intransitive verb To produce excessive salivation in.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To purge by the salivary glands; produce an unusual secretion and discharge of saliva in, usually by the action of mercury; produce ptyalism in.

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

  • transitive verb To produce an abnormal flow of saliva in; to produce salivation or ptyalism in, as by the use of mercury.

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

  • verb intransitive To produce saliva.
  • verb intransitive To show eager anticipation at the expectation of something.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb produce saliva
  • verb be envious, desirous, eager for, or extremely happy about something

Etymologies

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

[Latin salīvāre, salīvāt-, from salīva, saliva.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin salivatus, past participle of salivare ("to spit out, also salivate"), from saliva ("spittle").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word salivate.

Examples

  • Thus if the spoils of desktop browser wars was the soul of the Internet, then the coming war will be for the soft, pliant heart of the social web; it all comes down to distribution and sticky eyeballs synapsed to clicky-clicky fingers over which advertisers and their kin salivate and jerk off.

    The battle for the future of the social web | FactoryCity 2008

  • “This expat Texan lovingly describes her quest to find and re-create the food she loves so much — BBQ, fried chicken, and Tex-Mex … and her post on classic Tex-Mex tacos made me salivate, which is what a good food blog should do.” —

    Frequently Asked Questions | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2005

  • “This expat Texan lovingly describes her quest to find and re-create the food she loves so much — BBQ, fried chicken, and Tex-Mex … and her post on classic Tex-Mex tacos made me salivate, which is what a good food blog should do.” —

    Archive 2005-09-01 Homesick Texan 2005

  • Studio execs 'salivate' as the $15,000 horror film makes $7m on its opening weekend

    The First Post: Latest 2009

  • Studio execs 'salivate' as the $15,000 horror film makes $7m on its opening weekend

    The First Post: Latest 2009

  • Studio execs 'salivate' as the $15,000 horror film makes $7m on its opening weekend

    The First Post: Latest 2009

  • Studio execs 'salivate' as the $15,000 horror film makes $7m on its opening weekend

    The First Post: Latest 2009

  • That sort of socialist sloganeering makes Berlusconi's base of businessmen recoil and his political advisers salivate.

    Nichi Vendola, a gay, ex-communist governor, becomes the unlikely rival to Italy's Berlusconi Jason Horowitz 2011

  • In terms of raw numbers, the only new broadcast success has been NBC's legal drama Harry's Law, though most of its viewers are beyond the 18-49-year-olds over whom networks and advertisers salivate.

    Ed Martin: Spring Thaw 2011: Television Finally Comes to Life Ed Martin 2011

  • However, now that I'm living in the frozen north, the thought of it is making me salivate.

    Carne guisada, Tex-Mex stew | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.