v. [f. L. ējaculāt- ppl. stem of ējaculāri, f. ē out + jaculāri to dart, f. jaculum javelin.]
† 1. trans. To dart or shoot forth; to throw out suddenly and swiftly, eject. Obs. in general sense.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Ejaculate, cast out.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 102. They [Porcupines] have … prickles … which they … ejaculate.
1762. trans. Busching’s Syst. Geog., III. 179. The stones thus ejaculated have been found to contain all kinds of minerals.
b. spec. To eject fluids, etc., from the body.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, VI. 88. To eiaculate seede into the matrice.
1638. T. Whitaker, Blood of Grape, 35. So doth the heart eiaculate the influent spirit.
1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. xxxi. 261. The Cavernous Nerve; whose office is to ejaculate the Moisture for the Propagation of Humane Progeny.
1807. Ann. Reg., 823. The spider … ejaculates … several threads.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), II. xvii. 68. To ejaculate its venom into the wound.
1836–9. Todd, Cycl. Anat., II. 422/1. A … tube through which the seminal liquor is … ejaculated.
1878. trans. Ziemssen’s Cycl. Med., VIII. 905. A man who could never ejaculate.
† c. transf. and fig. Obs.
c. 1630. Jackson, Creed, V. xxv. The sun … can … ejaculate his beams upon any body capable of heat and illumination.
1679. Bp. of Hereford, Lett. Popish Idol., 22. [They] groan and sigh as if they would breath forth and ejaculate their very Hearts unto it.
1704. Swift, Mech. Operat. Spirit (1711), 280. There are three general ways of ejaculating the Soul.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, 13. The mighty magnet … Its active rays ejaculated thence Irradiate all the wide circumference.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xli. (1856), 374. A hissing sound, ejaculated by sudden impulse.
2. To utter suddenly (a short prayer; now in wider sense, any brief expression of emotion). Also absol.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 23 July (1879), IV. 22. I could not but with hearty thanks to Almighty God ejaculate my thanks to him.
1791. Mrs. Inchbald, Simp. Story, I. iv. 38. Miss Woodley ejaculated a short prayer to herself.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., II. VII. vi. 314. But where can the Prince be? he kept ejaculating.
1872. Liddon, Elem. Relig., vi. 184. We may of course ejaculate to such a thing if we like.
Hence Ejaculated ppl. a.
a. 1711. Ken, Christophil, Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 524. Each Moment by ejaculated Pray’r We keep Possession of our Mansion there.
1865. Farrar, Chapters on Lang., 100. We may condense into a single ejaculated monosyllable, all, and more than all, of a whole sentence.
