exasperate
verb
- vex greatly
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/ / /ɪɡˈzɑːspəɹeɪt/
adj
Etymology: First attested in 1534; borrowed from Latin exasperātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin exasperō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“to make rough”), from asper (“rough”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
- Exasperated.
“And this report Hath ſo exaſperate their King, that hee Prepares for ſome attempt of Warre.”
- Exasperated; embittered.
“Thersites. Do I curse thee? Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no. Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]”
“Like swallows which the exasperate dying year Sets spinning […]”
verb
Etymology: A pun on the usual sense of exasperate (to annoy) and aspirate.
- To overaspirate the letter h, or to aspirate it whenever it begins a word, once a common form of hypercorrection.
“quoted (from Punch magazine) in 2005, David Crystal, The Stories of English COCKNEY HOBSERVATION. — Cockneys are not the only people who drop or exasperate the 'h's.' It is done by common people in the provinces, and you may laugh at them for it.”