castration

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   surgical removal of the testes or ovaries (usually to inhibit hormone secretion in cases of breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men)

   Bilateral castration results in sterilization.

2. 2
   noun

   The act of removing the testicles.

   Castration of bulls was a socialization process that turned a bull into an ox; in this transformation something wild became something very useful; nature became culture.

3. 3
   noun

   the deletion of objectionable parts from a literary work

4. 4
   noun

   neutering a male animal by removing the testicles

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Castration came through French from Latin castrationem, derived from castrare “to castrate,” which probably goes back to a word meaning “knife.” Latin castrare had broader senses such as “prune,” “expurgate,” and “deprive of vigour,” all of which were once also used in English.

From castrate + -ion.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary