Definition of "cerate" []

• A hard, unctuous, fat- or wax-based solid, sometimes medicated, formerly applied to the skin directly or on dressings. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "-- Simple cerate, which is spread on lint as a soothing plaister for sores, consists of equal parts of oil and wax; but lard may be used as a substitute for the wax."
• "Western governments should be careful not to cerate and perpetuate an insidious myth that Africa has no alternative to dictatorship."
• "But they argue that Obama will cerate more big government, not them. 
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