vagitate

== English == === Etymology 1 === Attested earliest as a ghost word in the 1928 volume of the New English Dictionary On Historical Principles (NED). Some later uses may have been based (directly or indirectly) on this entry. The editors of the NED interpreted it as a borrowing from Latin vagitō, vagitāre, an obscure medieval verb built on the root of Classical Latin vagor, vagārī (“to ramble, stroll about”), from vagus (“wandering”). ==== Verb ==== vagitate (third-person singular simple present vagitates, present participle vagitating, simple past and past participle vagitated) (rare) To wander or move at random. Note. Despite the different sense, this may allude to Samuel Beckett's use of 'vagitate' (quoted below). === Etymology 2 === Borrowed from Latin vāgiō, vāgīre (“to wail, to squall (as an infant), to cry out”) via a frequentative form vāgītō, vāgītāre, attested in medieval Latin as a verb meaning "to wail, to cry out in distress (of an infant); to cry out (of a hare)". Compare French vagir, English vagitus (“the crying of a newborn baby”), vagient (“crying like a child”). ==== Verb ==== vagitate (third-person singular simple present vagitates, present participle vagitating, simple past and past participle vagitated) To wail, mewl (as an infant). === Notes === === References ===