extirpation
(ɛkstəˈpeɪʃən)
Also 6 exterpatione, extirpacion, -tion, exturpacion.
[ad. L. ex(s)tirpātiōn-em, n. of action f. ex(s)tirpāre: see extirpate v. Cf. F. extirpation.]
The action of extirpating.
† 1. The clearing (ground) of trees, etc. Cf. extirpate v. 1. Obs.
| 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. 217 The generall extirpation..of coppise grounds in Middlesex. |
2. The action of rooting up trees or weeds; total destruction.
| 1675 M. Clifford Hum. Reason in Phenix (1708) II. 532 The Extirpation of those Weeds. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Oak, Grubbing is only to be done where final extirpation is designed. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 180 The joint extirpation of woods and men. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 103/2 The..extirpation of couch grass is one of the first things which an experienced farmer sets himself to. |
b. Surg. The operation of removing, by excision or the application of caustics, anything having an inward growth.
| 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey). 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 330 The difficulty of..Breathing, occasioned by Schirrosities of the Glands is not to be cur'd any other⁓wise than by Extirpation. 1818 Art Preserv. Feet 52 A black corn..on extirpation..is found to have a black clot of blood at the lower extremity of the stem. 1875 H. Walton Dis. Eye 110 Operations on the eyeball, abscission, and extirpation. |
3. The action of extirpating or rooting out; extermination: a. of a nation, family, sect, species, etc. b. of an immaterial thing, e.g. heresy, a religion, vice, etc.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 56 Extirpation, that is, the pluckyng out of all maner of vyces by the rotes. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 4 a, The extirpation of heresy. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. vii. (1700) 95 The Jews were to fall under..an utter Extirpation. 1708 Swift Abolit. Chr. Wks. 1755 II. i. 95 The extirpation of the gospel. 1794 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 411 It will become on both sides a war of extirpation. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 421 Extirpation of the smallpox. 1877 J. A. Allen Amer. Bison 559 The extirpation of the buffalo. |
Hence extirˈpationist, one who maintains a theory of extirpation.
| 1881 Cornh. Mag. Sept. 340 The Teutonic extirpationists. |