domesticate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To tame an animal so it can live with and be useful to humans.

   The horse was domesticated thousands of years ago.

2. 2
   verb

   To adapt a wild plant for growing on farms or in gardens.

   Early farmers domesticated wheat and barley.

3. 3
   verb

   To make someone more settled and suited to home life.

   Marriage seems to have domesticated him.

First attested in 1620; either borrowed from Middle French domestiquer (Modern French domestiquer) or directly from Medieval Latin domesticātus, perfect passive participle of domesticō (“to domesticate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). By surface analysis, domestic + -ate.

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