Meaning of etiolated | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Of a plant or part of a plant: pale and weak because of sunlight deprivation or excessive exposure to sunlight.
2. Of a plant: intentionally grown in the dark.
3. Of an animal or person: having an ashen or pale appearance; also, haggard or thin; physically weak.
   broadly
4. Lacking in vigour; anemic, feeble.
   figuratively

Examples

“[T]he external leaves which enjoy⟳ the light⟳ are perfectly green, while those within, naturally or artificially covered up and involved in darkness, are blanched or etiolated; they are thereby rendered white, soft, delicate, and tender, and lose⟳ the taste⟳ and flavour of the native plant⟳ in its green state, or retain⟳ these very slightly.”

“If there is too great an accumulation of oxygen, as when a plant⟳ is kept in a dark place⟳, then it will grow⟳ towards the nearest ray of light⟳, which if it does not reach⟳, it will remain⟳ white, or etiolated, and sickly.”

“They had been so long accustomed to nestle in their old dwellings sheltered in the narrow closes, "Piled deep and massy, close⟳ and high," that they seemed to regard the exposure to open⟳ streets and broad thoroughfares pretty much as some etiolated hot-house exotic might be supposed to reflect⟳ on its being turned out to the open⟳ garden.”

“In a report⟳ of 1901, the "triple response" of etiolated pea seedlings (growth inhibition, thickening of the subapical region, horizontal nutation) was observed to occur⟳ in the presence of illuminating gas and ethylene was identified as the inducing agent.”

“Seedlings are elongated and have⟳ closed cotyledons in the dark (aetiolated) while the hypocotyls are short and the cotyledons are open⟳ in the light⟳ (de-aetiolated).”

“Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have⟳ witnessed this curious new breed⟳ of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like⟳ etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense⟳. They stand⟳ like⟳ naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds.”

“It is a fact well known to gardeners, that plants, when blanched, lose⟳ many of their active properties; and dandelion thus prepared, is frequently eaten on the continent in salads; [...] The French eat⟳ the young roots, and the etiolated leaves, with thin slices of bread and butter; [...]”

“When deprived of light⟳, says Dr. Irvine, all plants nearly agree⟳ in the qualities of their juices. The most pungent vegetables then grow⟳ insipid; the highest flavoured, inodorous; and those of the most variegated colours are of a uniform whiteness. [...] The results of analysis perfectly accord with these observations; for etiolated plants are found to yield⟳ more saccharine matter⟳, carbonic acid and water, and less inflammable matter⟳ than those which are green.”

“Birds inhabiting desert regions have⟳ an etiolated appearance.”

“[I]t muſt be obſerved that both vegetable and animal ſubſtances become⟳ bleached white by the ſun-beams when they are dead, as cabbage-ſtalks, bones, ivory, tallow, bees-wax, linen and cotton cloth; and hence I ſuppoſe the copper-coloured natives of ſunny countries might become⟳ etiolated or blanched by being kept from their infancy in the dark, or removed for a few generations to more northerly climates.”

“It is also to be noticed that men who spend⟳ their days in the most sedentary occupations, and often in a most confined atmosphere, do not suffer⟳ from this pain of the side as women so confined and so occupied do. [...] Tailors, again, who often work⟳ under conditions not very dissimilar from those of milliners and dressmakers, and often get⟳ almost similarly ætiolated, do not suffer⟳ from this form⟳ of pain as these latter do.”

“She had long almond eyes, one longer and larger than the other, that gave to her narrow, etiolated face⟳, an exalted, mystic air.”

“Already on the walk⟳ from the station the May sunshine had made him feel⟳ dirty and etiolated, a creature of indoors, with the sooty dust of London in the pores of his skin.”

“I am concerned about Joe Bloggs, the ordinary bloke on the shop⟳ floor. Whatever esoteric phraseology the Government use⟳ and whatever etiolated formulae the Government give⟳ birth to, they will not persuade⟳ me that if Joe Bloggs can not get⟳ an increase⟳ which he is claiming because he is prevented from claiming it, that is a statutory policy, whereas if Joe Bloggs can not get⟳ the increase⟳ he is claiming because his employer is statutorily forbidden to give⟳ it to him, that is not a statutory policy. That is nonsense.”

“Convinced republican that I am, and foe of the Prince [Charles, Prince of Wales] who talks to plants and wants to be crowned "head of all faiths" as well as the etiolated Church of England, I find⟳ myself pierced by a pang of sympathy.”

“Does he go to the museum in order⟳ to steal⟳ the Mona Lisa if it is there and unguarded; or does he go there anyway, but will seize the chance if it presents himself? [...] Insofar as his intention to steal⟳ is not given concrete actualisation, as the meaning or pattern of his actions, its culpability is (like⟳ its existence) aetiolated; but I see⟳ nothing problematic in saying that he is culpable for forming, maintaining and acting on a wrongful intention.”

CEFR level