macerate /ˈmasəreɪt 
/ ▸ verb 1 (especially with reference to food) soften or become softened by soaking in a liquid: [with object] macerate the mustard seeds in vinegar
[no object] the fruit was allowed to macerate before fermentation.
2 [with object] archaic cause to waste away by fasting: these men lodged in tombs and macerated themselves with fasting.
– DERIVATIVES maceration /masəˈreɪʃn / noun macerator /ˈmasəreɪtə / noun – ORIGIN mid 16th century: from Latin macerat- ‘made soft, soaked’, from macerare ‘to soften’.
EnglishOxford Dictionary of English
