[f. ppl. stem of L. ulcerāre (whence It. ulcerare, Sp. and Pg. ulcerar, F. ulcérer), f. ulcer-, ulcus ULCER sb.: see -ATE.]
1. intr. To form an ulcer; to break out into ulcers or purulent sores; to fester.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 37. Þis sikenes lurkeþ wiþin þe lure in þe bigynnyng, but after processe of tyme it vlcerate, & fretyng þe lure goþe out.
1623. Cockeram, Vlcerate, to blister, to breake out into sores.
1753. N. Torriano, Gangr. Sore Throat, 45. The Tonsils, says he, are often exposed to ulcerate.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflam., 387. A part never ulcerates till it has become inflamed.
1826. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg. (ed. 5), 190. Inflaming the whole swelling, and causing it to ulcerate and slough.
1898. Hutchinson’s Arch. Surg., IX. 313. The patches do not ulcerate or inflame.
fig. 1833. I. Taylor, Fanat., ii. 49. When an affection, more sensitive than any other, is left to bleed and ulcerate in open air.
1850. Blackie, Æschylus, I. 154. More than a house may bear, whose wounds yet bleed, And ulcerate from the fangs of fate.
2. trans. To cause ulcers in or on.
c. 1550. H. Lloyd, Treas. Health, 5. Sinapismus is an emplaster made of mustard to vlcerate the skynne & make the same red.
1604. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph., Vlcerate, to make full of sores, to blister.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VII. 249. When signs of a Gangrene begin to appear … we must ulcerate the parts … with deep scarifications.
1753. Phil. Trans., XLVIII. 149. If either the stalks or leaves of this valuable plant are applied to the skin, they heat and ulcerate it.
1788. Med. Commun., II. 208. The discharge … excoriates or ulcerates the membrane.
1843. Youatt, Horse (ed. 2), i. 14. The fetlock would be chafed and ulcerated, if the horse was ridden over ploughed grounds.
3. fig. To affect after the manner of an ulcer: to irritate; to wound or poison.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. lxiv. 214. Wherein the King dealt with a tender hand, as if he feared to ulcerate any part, and especially the Clergy.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 656. By knowing the true place of the wound, we shall prevent its ulcerating the mind herself.
1792. Burke, Lett. to Sir H. Langrishe, Wks. VI. 362. The only reason which can be assigned for this disfranchisement, has a tendency more deeply to ulcerate their minds than the act of exclusion itself.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 46. A small knot of Roman Catholics whose hearts had been ulcerated by old injuries. Ibid., vii. II. 255. When her heart had been ulcerated by disasters and mortifications.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, viii. To brand consciences, already ulcerated by a sense of guilt.
