unct

To anoint, especially a monarch or other patriarchal leader.

Verb

  1. To anoint, especially a monarch or other patriarchal leader.
    • The King was uncted in the nick of time
    • […] and lat thame pray ouir him and unct him with oyle in the name of our Lord, […] - 1552, ed. Catholic Church, John Hamilton, Thomas Graves Law, The Catechism of John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1552,...
    • Tyll tyred with battles, for to ceese the fraie, / Theie uncted Brutus kynge, and gave the Trojanns swaie. - 1769, Thomas Chatterton, “The Rowley Poems”, in Englysh Metamorphosis:
  2. To lubricate.
    • This is also an uncting procedure in which oil is dropped into the nose and expelled through the mouth. - 2008, Swami Sadashiva Tirtha, The Ayurveda Encyclopedia, →ISBN, page 197:

Origin

First appears in Middle English circa 1425, derived from Latin unctus (“anointed”) and related terms. Ayurvedic sense is one of several competing translations of Sanskrit snehana.

Forms

uncts uncting uncted

Synonyms

anoint oint lubricate oleate

Related

unction unctuous