v. [f. L. aer air + -ATE3, prob. after Fr. aér-er, a latinized spelling of OFr. airer, ayrer, f. air.]
1. To expose to the free (mechanical) action of air, to supply with air.
1856. Farmer’s Mag., Jan., 20/1. Mineral nutriment … could not be restored by his [Tull’s] process of stirring and aërating without help from manure.
1879. Wrightson, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 78/2. The soil between the drains must be thoroughly aërated.
2. To expose to the chemical action of air; to oxygenate (the blood) by respiration.
1794. E. Darwin, Zoonomia, I. 7. The blood … has been thus aerated in the lungs.
1860. Hartwig, Sea, xi. 203. The crustacean possesses a heart, which propels the blood, after it has been aerated in the gills.
3. To charge (a substance) with carbonic acid gas, formerly called fixed air. (Usually in the pple. AERATED.)
