Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-CIP'I-TATE, v.t. [L. præcipito, from præceps, headlong. See Precipice.]

1. To throw headlong; as, he precipitated himself from a rock. – Milton. Dryden.
2. To urge or press with eagerness or violence; as, to precipitate a flight. – Dryden.
3. To hasten. Short intermittent and swift recurrent pains do precipitate patients into consumptions. – Harvey.
4. To hurry blindly or rashly. If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs and prove dangerous. – Bacon.
5. To throw to the bottom of a vessel; as a substance in solution. All metals may be precipitated by alkaline salts. – Encyc.