essorer

Essorer is a French transitive verb meaning to wring out or to squeeze dry, primarily by twisting to remove liquid from a wet object. The most common use is physical: essorer le linge or essorer des vêtements means to remove water from clothes after washing; essorer des fruits or fruits: to squeeze out juice. The sense can extend to draining or extracting liquid from any damp material, such as textiles or vegetables.

In a figurative sense, essorer can describe draining or exhausting resources, revenues, or capacities: essorer les ressources, essorer le budget, or essorer les profits convey the idea of using something to its last drop or limit.

Etymology and history: the word is attested in Old and Middle French. The exact origin is not certain, but it is a native French formation related to the idea of pressing or squeezing. The noun associated with the action is l’essorage, meaning the act of wringing or the process (as in the spin-drying cycle in washing machines).

Conjugation: essorer follows the regular -er verb pattern in French. Present tense forms include: j’essore, tu essores, il essore, nous essorons, vous essorez, ils essorent. The past participle is essoré, used with auxiliary avoir to form the passé composé, e.g., j’ai essoré. Other tenses resemble standard -er verb conjugations (essorai, essoras, essora, essorâmes, essorâtes, essorèrent in the passé simple).

See also: essorage (the act or process of wringing), essorage des vêtements, tordre, égoutter.