Crepitate

Word of the Day for Wednesday, November 23, 2011

crepitate \KREP-i-teyt\, verb:

To make a crackling sound; crackle.

The lampwicks crepitate; their flames are about to go out, long mosquitoes flit in rapid circlings about them.
-- Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation of Saint Anthony

This horrible talk, however, evidently possessed a potent magic for my friend; and his imagination, checked for a while by the influence of his kinsman, began to ferment and crepitate.
-- Henry James, Stories Revived

Crepitate is from the Latin crepitare which meant “to rustle or chatter.”

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