masticate MAS-tih-kayt, transitive verb:
1. To grind or crush with or as if with the teeth in preparation for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, "to masticate food."
2. To crush or knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp.
intransitive verb:
1. To chew food.
Honestly, folks, the people at the next table ordered the same dish, and I watched as a young couple tried in vain to masticate those fossilized pieces of "toast."
-- Pat Bruno, "Hits and misses", Chicago Sun-Times, June 2002
Their powerful jaws allow hyenas to masticate not only flesh and entrails, but bones, horns, and even the teeth of their prey.
-- Sam Tauschek, "A Hyena is no laughing matter", Sports Afield, May 2001
In 1820, Thomas Hancock invented a machine that could masticate, mix and soften rubber.
-- Rikki Lamba, "Effect of carbon black on dynamic properties", Rubber World, April 1, 2000
The middle ear gives us our sound bite, our capacity to masticate without being forced to turn a momentarily deaf ear to the world, as most other vertebrates are.
-- Natalie Angier, "In Mammals, a Complex Journey to the Middle Ear ", New York Times, October 12, 2009
Masticate comes from the past participle of Late Latin masticare, "to chew," from Greek mastichan, "to gnash the teeth." The noun form is mastication.
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