Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
- (transitive, obsolete) To lay bare, as the roots of a tree, by loosening or removing soil. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18th century.]
1847, Thomas Keightley, The Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil:
- After the autumnal equinox they were to be ablaqueated like the vines. Every third year they were to be dunged, and after some years (generally the eighth) to be pruned; for there was an old saying, to wit, eum qui aret olivetum rogare fructum; qui stercoret exorare; qui caedat cogere.
- ^ Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 , ISBN 978-0198605751), page 5