different between rarefy vs cull

English

Alternative forms

• rarify

Etymology

From Middle English rarefien, from Old French rarefier (French raréfier), from Latin rarefacere (“make rare”). Surface etymology is rare +? -fy.

Verb

rarefy (third-person singular simple present rarefies, present participle rarefying, simple past and past participle rarefied)

1. To make rare, thin, porous, or less dense
2. To expand or enlarge without adding any new portion of matter to.

Synonyms

• stretch

Antonyms

• condense

Translations

Anagrams

• Frayer, Frayre, fayrer

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /k?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English cullen, cuilen, coilen, from Old French cuillir (“collect, gather, select”), from Latin collig? (“gather together”). Doublet of coil.

Verb

cull (third-person singular simple present culls, present participle culling, simple past and past participle culled)

1. To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).
   • 1984, cover star: JOE DALLESANDRO culled from Andy Warhol's FLESH — anonymous; sleeve notes from The Smiths' eponymous album
2. To gather, collect.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Eleanor

     whitest honey in fairy gardens cull'd
3. To select animals from a group and then kill them in order to reduce the numbers of the group in a controlled manner.
4. (nonstandard, euphemistic) To kill (animals etc).
5. To lay off in order to reduce the size of, get rid of.

Translations

Noun

cull (plural culls)

1. A selection.
2. An organised killing of selected animals.
3. (farming, agriculture) An individual animal selected to be killed, or item of produce to be discarded.
4. (seafood industry) A lobster having only one claw.
5. A piece unfit for inclusion within a larger group; an inferior specimen.

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps an abbreviation of cully.

Noun

cull (plural culls)

1. (slang, dialectal) A fool, gullible person; a dupe.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 307:

     Follow but my counsel, and I will show you a way to empty the pocket of a queer cull without any danger of the nubbing cheat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:dupe

Albanian

Alternative forms

• cullë

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *g(')elt- (“womb”). Compare Sanskrit ???? (jarta), ????? (jártu, “vulva”), Swedish kull (“brood, litter”), Old English child.

Noun

cull m

1. (Gheg) boy, child

Derived terms

• cullak

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?ku?/
• Rhymes: -u?

Verb

cull

1. third-person singular present indicative form of collir
2. second-person singular imperative form of collir