v. [f. L. excrēt- ppl. stem of excernĕre, f. ex- out + cernĕre to separate, sift. See EXCERN.]

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  1.  trans. Of animals and plants or their organs: To separate (chiefly waste matters) from the vital fluids preparatory to discharging from the system; to separate and expel from the system through the emunctory organs; often used with reference to the process of expulsion merely.

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1668.  Phil. Trans., III. 890. Nature copiously excretes by the Reins … a liquor … compounded of Aqueous, Saline, Sulphury, and other particles.

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1720.  W. Gibson, Diet. Horses, iv. (ed. 3), 58. Things excreted and retained.

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1802.  Paley, Nat. Theol., xix. (1803), 366. Slime excreted by the animal’s skin.

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1836.  Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 401/1. A sanguineous fluid is excreted from the bladder.

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1859.  Darwin, Orig. Spec., iv. (1873), 73. Certain plants excrete sweet juice.

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1880.  Haughton, Phys. Geog., iii. 79. Animals … live by absorbing oxygen and excreting carbonic acid.

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  † b.  intr. for refl. with forth.

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1620.  Venner, Via Recta (1650), 301. Vaporous fumes that excrete forth from the brain.

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  c.  absol. (In quot. 1832 humorously for ‘spit.’)

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1832.  Blackw. Mag., XXXI. 830. English ‘commercial gentlemen’ excrete in spit-boxes.

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1872.  Huxley, Physiol., i. 15. The body feeds, and it excretes.

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1881.  Mivart, Cat, 232. The lungs excrete.

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  † 2.  Of drugs, etc., and of personal agents: To cause the excretion of. Also with forth, out. Obs.

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1620.  Venner, Via Recta, ii. 38. It … maketh the body soluble, by excreting forth of yellow cholericke humors. Ibid., vii. 123. They loose the belly, and excrete out choler.

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1651.  Biggs, New Disp., 187. Adequate meanes to excrete the Catarrhous matter.

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  Hence Excreted ppl. a., sifted out and discharged. Excreter, that which excretes or discharges. Excreting vbl. sb. and ppl. a.

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1802.  Paley, Nat. Theol., xiii. Wks. 1825, III. 145. The nature and quality of the excreted substance.

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1844–57.  G. Bird, Urin. Deposits (ed. 5), 449. This remarkable critical increase in the excreted solids of the urine is observed.

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1849.  J. F. Johnston, Exp. Agric., 32. Excreting is the final function exercised by the animal in reference to its food.

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1852–9.  Todd, Cycl. Anat., IV. 843/2. The skin is … an active excreter of free phosphoric … acids.

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1855.  H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol. (1872), I. I. v. 92. The excreting structures of the skin.

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