achicar

to bale out

verb ah-chee-KAHR Rare

Also means

to intimidate

Usage Note

Achicar has two distinct everyday senses: to bale water out of a boat (achicar el agua), and colloquially to intimidate or make someone feel small (intentaron achicarle, 'they tried to intimidate him'). The reflexive achicarse means to shrink back or lose one's nerve. The spelling-change variant achiqué (first-person preterite) follows the regular -car pattern: c becomes qu before e.

Examples

"Tuvieron que achicar el agua del barco toda la noche."

Natural Translation

They had to bale out the boat all night.

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