English

Alternative spellings
smifligate
spefflicate (Cornish dialect)
spifflicate

Etymology
Apparently made up to resemble a word of Latin origin.

Transitive verb
rfc-trverb|Transitive verb
en-verb|spiflicat|ing

1. To confound, silence or dumbfound - 1785 w:Francis Grose|Francis Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
2. italbrac|Provincial To beat severely - 1847 w:James Halliwell|James Halliwell, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words
3. slang To stifle, suffocate, kill.

#:1837: So out with your whinger at once, and scrag Jane while I spiflicate Johnny - w:Richard Barham|Richard Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends

1. To ruin, destroy.

#*1932: It completely busts up and spifflicates the medical evidence - w:Dorothy L. Sayers|Dorothy L. Sayers, Have His Carcase

See also
spiflicating
spiflication

References
R:Century 1914
R:Partridge 1984

vi:spiflicate

• 2007-06-03 01:48 - AutoFormat - header -Transitive Verb +Transitive verb, +{{rfc-trverb|Transitive verb}}

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