| 释义 |
exterminate, v.|ɛkˈstɜːmɪneɪt|
Also 6–7 pa. pple. exterminate.
[f. L. extermināt- ppl. stem of extermināre to drive beyond the boundaries, f. ex- out + terminus boundary-line. Cf. F. exterminer.
Only sense 1 is found in class. Lat.; the developed sense 2 appears in the Vulgate, and in Fr.]
†1. trans. To drive, force (a person or thing) from, of, out of the boundaries or limits of (a place, region, community, state, etc.); to drive away, banish, put to flight. Also with double obj. by omission of from. Obs.
1541Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 146 Oppression, extorcion..were out of the citee of Rome..vtterly exterminate. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 621 It hes..mony of life extirminate. 1597Bacon Coulers Good & Evil vii. (Arb.) 148 Most thinges do..chase and exterminate their contraries. 1653Baxter Meth. Peace Consc. 50 Do not those men deserve to be exterminated the Churches. a1677Barrow Pope's Suprem. Wks. 1741 I. 609 They deposed, exterminated, and deprived him of communion. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. iv. 165 Their [the Britons'] Language was wholly exterminated from hence with them. 1692Bentley Serm. 6 June 27 A discovery..which alone is sufficient to..exterminate rank Atheism out of the World.
2. To destroy utterly, put an end to (persons or animals); now only, to root out, extirpate (species, races, populations, sects, hence opinions, etc.).
1649Alcoran 65 Who can hinder God to exterminate the Messiah..with whatsoever is in the Earth, when it shall seeme good to him? 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiv. 128 A People comming into possession of a Land by warre, do not alwaies exterminate the antient Inhabitants. 1705Arbuthnot Coins (1727) 229 Alexander had left Grecian Governors and Colonies in the Indies; but they were almost exterminated by Sandro-cottus. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xl. 290 Clovis..exterminated all his family, lest any of them should be chosen king. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 5 The Holy League..was to exterminate heresy. 1868Peard Water-farm. xvi. 164 In the dawn of domestic agriculture, beasts of prey..were exterminated.
†3. To get rid of (a thing); to abolish, put an end to, destroy. Obs.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. (1641) 63/1 Th' one [Sabbath] but a Day endures; th' others Date Eternity shall not Exterminate. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 158 Exterminating or out-lawing their own Face, to put on another. 1691Ray Creation (1714) 38 Who endeavour to..evacuate and exterminate this Argument. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 92 A remorse that stung his conscience and exterminated his peace.
†b. Math. To get rid of (an unknown quantity, etc.); = eliminate. Obs.
1743W. Emerson Fluxions ii. iii. 139 By help of the Equation of the Curve, exterminate x. or y. out of the Quantity yẋ / ẏ . 1756Saunderson Meth. Fluxions 159 To exterminate the impossible Quantity in the Denominator. 1827Hutton Course Math. I. 246 By adding or subtracting them [equations]..one of the letters may be exterminated.
Hence exˈterminated ppl. a. exˈterminating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1694tr. Milton's Lett. State 19 May an. 1655, We believe it to be the general Interest of us all..to relieve our exterminated and indigent Brethren. 1813Q. Rev. IX. 341 The exterminated nations..deserved the vengeance of a moral governor by their idolatry and depravity. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 274 The exterminating of Idolattry out of the empire. 1667Decay Chr. Piety vi. 120 Unlucky vices, on whom the exterminating lot hapned to fall. 1796Coleridge Ode Departing Year, The exterminating fiend is fled. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. ii. 33 The last exterminating conquest waged..against the Britons. |