exuviation (eksuviashon)

[ I have referred to what I have called the primordial valves; these are not calcified; they are formed at the first exuviation , when the larval integuments are shed. Darwin , Cirriped i a, Int., p. 6. Society, in all its developments, undergoes the proce of exuviation . H. Spencer , Universal Progre , p. 114. ex-voto (eks-võ'tō), n. [ One has only to notice, to be a ured of the fact, how crowded are the sanctuaries of these black Madonnas with ex - votos , often costly, testifying to manifestations of supernatural power. Contemporary Rev. , L. 106. eylt, n. [ME. ey, ei , ay , ai , pl. eyren, eiren, etc., an egg: see egg1 .] A Middle English form of egg1. Seynd bacoun and som tyme an ey or tweye. Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 25. ey2t, interj. [A mere syllable of ejaculation; cf. eigh, eh, hey, etc.] Eh! what! Chaucer. -ey. [See the words quoted.] A termination of various origin, a reduced form of different final syllables in Latin, French, Anglo-Saxon, etc. It is not recognized or felt as an English formative. In some words, as alley, money, etc., it represents an earlier diphthong; in others the e is unhistorical, the termination being a mere orthographic variant of y or -ie, as in honey, donkey, monkey, whiskey, etc., being referred, as a suffix, to the simple -y when attached to nouns ending in y, as in clayey, skyey, etc.