pith
To render insensate or kill by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cordTo render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.
» The pith of an orange is rather bitter.
Lebensfreude · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(transitive)To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.
(transitive)To extract the pith from (something or (figurative) someone).
remove the pith from (a plant)
Examples
3 sentencesThe pith of an orange is rather bitter.
We need to discuss the pith of the matter.
ruНам нужно обсудить суть вопроса. — marafon
Tom is such a picky eater that he'll diligently pick the stringy pith from an orange before eating it.
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English pith, pithe (“soft interior; pith, pulp”) [and othThe noun is derived from Middle English pith, pithe (“soft interior; pith, pulp”) [and other forms], from Old English piþa [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *piþô, from earlier *piþō (oblique *pittan); further etymology unknown. Doublet of pit (“seed or stone inside a fruit”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
piths, pithing, pithed, pithedLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.