eradicate, v.
(ɪˈrædɪkeɪt)
Also 7 irradicate.
[f. L. ērādīcāt- ppl. stem of ērādīcāre, f. L. ē out + rādīc-em, nom. rādix root.]
1. trans. To pull or tear up by the roots; to root out (a tree, plant, or anything that is spoken of as having ‘roots’).
| 1564–78 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 48 And to the places aboute the rootes of the carbuncle round about it, this is good both to eradicate & defend the same. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 44/2 Till such time, as they [hayre] be wholye eradicated, and rootede out. 1635 Nabbes Hannibal & Sc. (1637) K iij, Okes eradicated By a prodigious whirlwind. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 213 Cauly-flowers over-speeding to pome and lead..should be quite eradicated. a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 111 To demolish all Buildings, eradicate all Plantations. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Infirmities of Trees, Such [Weeds] as can be eradicated must be diligently pluck'd up by the Hands. 1860 tr. Hartwig's Sea & Wond. vi. 73 Huge weapons, fit for eradicating trees. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man II. xix. 348 The Indians of Paraguay eradicate their eyebrows and eyelashes. |
2. To remove entirely, extirpate, get rid of.
| 1647–8 Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 35 To see the seeds of those discords eradicated. 1656 Earl of Monmouth Advt. fr. Parnass. 49 Totally to irradicate all vertue from out his subjects souls. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. iii. viii. 240 Without Chymical preparations congealed bloud will not be eradicated out of the body. 1784 Cowper Task v. 437 That man should thus encroach on fellow man..Eradicate him..Moves indignation. 1788 Reid Act. Powers iii. iii. iii, All desires and fears, with regard to things not in our power, ought to be totally eradicated. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown Pref. (1871) 13 By eradicating mercilessly the incorrigible. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. II. i. 102 Laws of the most savage cruelty were passed in hopes of eradicating mendicancy. |
† 3. Math. To extract the (square) root of (a number). Obs.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey ii. viii. 61 Eradicate the ductat of the said mediatie and remainders. |
¶ Misused for irradicate.
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 14 Seeds and plants sown and eradicated in the ground. |