verminate

[ vur-muh-neyt ]

verb (used without object)

, ver·mi·nat·ed, ver·mi·nat·ing.

1. to become infested with vermin, especially parasitic vermin.
2. Archaic. to breed or infest with vermin.

Other Words From

• vermi·nation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of verminate¹

1685–95; < Latin verminātus, past participle of vermināre to be infested with maggots, to have racking pains, equivalent to vermin ( a ) racking pain + -ātus -ate ¹; dual sense of vermināre by association with vermis worm, maggot, vermin- being taken, perhaps erroneously, as an extended stem of this word