rusticate

views updated Jun 11 2018

rus·ti·cate / ˈrəstiˌkāt/ • v. 1. [intr.] go to, live in, or spend time in the country.2. [tr.] fashion (masonry) in large blocks with sunk joints and a roughened surface: [as adj.] (rusticated) the stable block was built of rusticated stone. 3. [tr.] Brit. suspend (a student) from a university as a punishment (used chiefly at Oxford and Cambridge).DERIVATIVES: rus·ti·ca·tion / ˌrəstiˈkāshən/ n.

rusticate

views updated May 18 2018

rusticate suspend a student from a university as a punishment (used chiefly at Oxford and Cambridge). Recorded from the late 15th century (in the sense ‘countrify’ the word comes from Latin rusticat- ‘(having) lived in the country’.