OBJURGATE verb (ob-jer-geyt)

verb

1. to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly; berate sharply.


Quotes

Let his fellows grumble and objurgate, said he; they would cringe to him when he became a dragoman, with his pockets stuffed with piastres.
--*Sabine Baring-Gould,*The Book of Ghosts, 1904


It would be my advice to persons situated in this way, to not roll or thrash around, because this excites the interest of all the different sorts of animals and makes every last one of them want to turn out and see what is going on, and this makes things worse than they were before, and of course makes you objurgate harder, too, if you can.
--*Mark Twain,*A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889



Origin

The English verb objurgate comes from Latin objūrgāt-, the past participle stem of the verb objūrgāre “to reprimand, rebuke.” The Latin verb is composed of the prefix ob- “against,” and the verb jūrgāre or jūrigāre “to rebuke.” Jūrigāre, in turn, is composed of the noun stem jūr- (from jūs “right, law, justice”) and the verb suffix -igāre, from -ig-, a noun derivative of agere “to drive, do,” as in fumigate, litigate, and navigate. Objurgate entered English in the early 17th century.