To spend the summer in a state of reduced activity or dormancy; to stay torpid during summer heat.
From Latin aestivare (to spend the summer), from aestivas (of summer). The summer equivalent of hibernation, used in biology to describe dormancy.
While bears hibernate in winter, crocodiles aestivate in summer—they bury themselves in mud as the water dries up, slowing their metabolism to barely a heartbeat until rain returns.
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