staccare
Italian
Etymology
From an aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- + attachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”) from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakka (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakkô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”). Akin to Old High German stecko (“post”) (German Stecken (“stick”)), Old Saxon stekko (“stake”), Old Norse stakkr (“hay stack, heap”), Old English staca (“stake”). More at English stake.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /stakˈka.re/
- Rhymes: -are
- Hyphenation: stac‧cà‧re
Verb
staccàre (first-person singular present stàcco, first-person singular past historic staccài, past participle staccàto, auxiliary avére) [with da]
- (transitive) to detach, to remove, to separate, to take or take down (from)
- (transitive) to unyoke, to unharness (draught/draft animals)
- Synonym: sbardare
- (transitive) to uncouple (a train)
- (transitive) to tear out (pages from a book), to tear off (a body part, etc.)
- (transitive) to take (one's eyes) (off of someone) (to stop looking at)
- (transitive) to pronounce (words) separately, not run-together
- (transitive, music) to play (notes) staccato
- (transitive, sports) to distance, to leave behind (a runner, etc.)
- (transitive, automotive) to depress (the clutch petal), to disengage (the clutch)
- (intransitive) to stand out [auxiliary avere]
- (intransitive, informal) to knock off work, to finish work [auxiliary avere]
- (intransitive, informal) to take a break from work [auxiliary avere]