scarify

Meanings

1. To remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch.
2. To make scratches or cuts on.
3. To damage the testa (seed coat) of a seed by cutting, scraping, chemicals, hot water, or fire to allow permeation of water and faster germination.
4. To break up, loosen, or roughen the surface of a field or road or a hard surface.
5. To scratch, etch, burn, or cut designs into one's skin as a form of body modification.
6. To harrow the feelings.
7. To scar.
8. Denude, or lay waste to.

1. To frighten; to scare, to terrify.

Etymology

From French scarifier, from Late Latin scarificāre, from Latin scarifāre (“to scarify”), from Ancient Greek σκαριφᾶσθαι (skariphâsthai, “scratch”), from σκάριφος (skáriphos, “writing, drawing, sketching”). Unrelated to scar.