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Webster 1913 Edition

Exterminate

Ex-ter′mi-nate

,
Verb.
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.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Exterminate

EXTERM'INATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. extermino; ex and terminus, limit.]
Literally, to drive from within the limits or borders. Hence,
1.
To destroy utterly; to drive away; to extirpate; as, to exterminate a colony, a tribe or a nation; to exterminate inhabitants or a race of men.
2.
To eradicate; to root out; to extirpate; as, to exterminate error, heresy, infidelity or atheism; to exterminate vice.
3.
To root out, as plants; to extirpate; as, to exterminate weeds.
4.
In algebra, to take away; as, to exterminate surds or unknown quantities.

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