Dictionary

extermine en · VERB

Etymology

From French exterminer, from Latin extermino.

Meanings

1. (nonstandard, obsolete, transitive) To exterminate (someone or something); to destroy.
   • Without the instinct of self-preservation, which causes the sea-anemone to contract its tentacles, or the fish to dash into its hover, species would be extermined wholesale by involuntary suicide. 1874, Charles Kingsley, “Superstition. A Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution, London.”, in Health and Education, London: W. Isbister & Co. […], →OCLC, page 234:
   • VVherever ſorrovv is, relief vvould be. / If you do ſorrovv at my grief in love, / By giving love your ſorrovv and my grief / VVere both extermined. c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

Forms