\Ate\ (?; 277),
the preterit of {Eat}.

\A"te\, n. [Gr. ?.] (Greek. Myth.)
The goddess of mischievous folly; also, in later poets, the
goddess of vengeance.

\-ate\ [From the L. suffix -atus, the past participle
ending of verbs of the 1st conj.]
1. As an ending of participles or participial adjectives it
   is equivalent to -ed; as, situate or situated; animate or
   animated.
2. As the ending of a verb, it means to make, to cause, to
   act, etc.; as, to propitiate (to make propitious); to
   animate (to give life to).
3. As a noun suffix, it marks the agent; as, curate,
   delegate. It also sometimes marks the office or dignity;
   as, tribunate.
4. In chemistry it is used to denote the salts formed from
   those acids whose names end -ic (excepting binary or
   halogen acids); as, sulphate from sulphuric acid, nitrate
   from nitric acid, etc. It is also used in the case of
   certain basic salts.