nictate

verb

1. (intransitive)To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane.

   “Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed.”

   “Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating.”

   “In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed.”