Exhaustion \Ex*haus"tion\, n. [Cf. F. exhaustion.]

1. The act of draining out or draining off; the act of emptying completely of the contents.

2. The state of being exhausted or emptied; the state of being deprived of strength or spirits.

3. (Math.) An ancient geometrical method in which an exhaustive process was employed. It was nearly equivalent to the modern method of limits.

Note: The method of exhaustions was applied to great variety of propositions, pertaining to rectifications and quadratures, now investigated by the calculus.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)