▪ I. † ˈextirpate, pple. Obs.
[ad. L. ex(s)tirpātus, pa. pple. of ex(s)tirpāre: used as pa. pple. of next.]
Rooted out, destroyed utterly, rendered extinct.
| 1541 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 116 It is profitable..to haue all occasions of sedicion..to be extirpate. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V Wks. (1711) 107 When a vice cannot be extirpate and taken away. 1706 De Foe Jure Div. vii. 146 note, The Race of Sinners was extirpate. |
▪ II. extirpate, v.
(ˈɛkstəpeɪt, ɛkˈstɜːpeɪt)
Also 7 extirpat.
[f. L. ex(s)tirpāt- ppl. stem of ex(s)tirpāre, f. ex- (see ex- prefix1) + stirp-s stem or stock of a tree. Cf. extirp v.]
† 1. trans. To clear of stumps. In quot. fig. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 426 He might wede, extirpate, and purdge the myndes of men. |
2. To pull or pluck up by the roots; to root up, destroy, or remove root and branch (a tree, plant).
| 1651 W. G. tr. Cowel's Inst. 278 All such Offenders should have..their Woods extirpated and grub'd up. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 213 Pluck up Strawberry Runners, extirpate the tall Stalks. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 189 Extirpate noxious and unprofitable Herbs. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xxv. 746 The vines and fruit-trees..were extirpated. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. iii. (1813) 31 The better way..is..to extirpate the intermediate trees. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. xi. §2 The wood seems to have been..extirpated. |
| fig. 1836 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) II. vi. 71 Regeneration..does not extirpate the root of evil. |
† b. transf.
| c 1666 in Murray Lincolnshire (1890) 24 The old Church..having been ‘extirpated by a hurricane’ in 1666. |
c. esp. in Surg. To root out, remove (anything spoken of as having roots).
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 131 For men..to labour to extirpate..the Beard..is a practical blasphemy. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 167 Extirpating several breasts, and large tumors. 1774 Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 74 Small pincers for the purpose of extirpating hairs. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 242/1 When a nævus is extirpated, it seems to consist of a mass of cellular tissue. |
3. To root out, exterminate, or totally destroy (a class, sect, or nation); to kill off, and render extinct (a species of animals or plants). Const. out of, from.
| 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. ii. xvi. 41 in Holinshed, Yet was their nobilitie so honourable and great; that by no meanes..was the same to be extirpated or rooted out. 1649 Alcoran 41 God..forgiveth sins to those that believe, and extirpate Infidels. a 1704 Locke (J.), The breed ought to be extirpated out of the island. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne, Varieties of Man 206 The Pygmies were extirpated by their wars. 1882 Mrs. Pitman Mission L. Greece & Pal. 310 The founder of Islam..believing in the mission of the sword to extirpate all Christians and Jews. |
b. In weaker sense: To do away with, render extinct as such (a specified class of persons); to root out utterly, break up (a gang of thieves). Formerly also, † to drive out, clear away (persons) from a locality, etc.
| 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 10, I will driue and extirpate oute of this Citie both L. Tarquinius Superbus, and his wicked wife, with all the race of his children and progenie. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 125 He..Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the Dukedom. 1713 Steele Englishman No. 4. 23 The Comedies, you see, have extirpated the whole Species of Beaux. 1737 Common Sense (1738) I. 186 The Honour of extirpating such a notorious Robber from the Society. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 205 It is..one of the first duties of every government to extirpate gangs of thieves. |
4. To root out, eradicate (an immaterial thing, e.g. heresy, vice, etc.) Const. † out of, from.
| 1539 J. Husee in Lisle Papers V. 75, I hope it shall please your Lordship to extirpate this sudden desperate sorrow..out of the bottom of your stomach. 1549 Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 37 He destroied al Idolatrie, and clearly dyd extirpate all superstition. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. Pref. 19 Until monarchy or regal power should be extirpated in all the world. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xix. §15 With what chance of success..would a legislator go about to extirpate drunkenness..by dint of legal punishment? 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxv, The holy Church is awakened..to extirpate heresy by fire and steel. 1838 Emerson Nat., Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 205 Neither years nor books have yet availed to extirpate a prejudice then rooted in me. |
Hence ˈextirpated ppl. a. ˈextirpating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. ii. (1851) 65 The final extirpating of that whole Nation. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland ix. 34 All possible means were used..for the extirpating of superstition. 1827 Southey Penins. War II. 25 The Spaniards had to atone for extirpated nations. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. v. 279 Sin..a desolating, extirpating power in souls. |