Exterminate \Ex*ter"mi*nate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Exterminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Exterminating.]
[L.
exterminatus, p. p. of exterminare to abolish, destroy, drive
out or away; ex out + terminus boundary, limit. See Term.]
1. To drive out or away; to expel.
They deposed, exterminated, and deprived him of
communion. --Barrow.
2. To destroy utterly; to cut off; to extirpate; to
annihilate; to root out; as, to exterminate a colony, a
tribe, or a nation; to exterminate error or vice.
To explode and exterminate rank atheism. --Bentley.
3. (Math.) To eliminate, as unknown quantities. [R.]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) |