Ex-tēr'mi-nāte, v. t.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. EXTERMINATED; p. pr. & vb. n. EXTERMINATING.] [Lat. exterminare, exterminatum, to drive beyond the boundaries, to drive out or away, from ex, out of, and terminus, boundary, limit; Pr., Sp., & Pg. exterminar, It. esterminare, Fr. exterminer.] 1. To drive from within the limits or borders of; to destroy utterly; to drive away; to extirpate; as, to exterminate a colony, a tribe, or a nation. The Spaniards, as they pretend, . . . resolved to exterminate the inhabitants. Robertson. 2. To put an end to the power or prevalence of; to eradicate; to root out; to extirpate; as, to exterminate error or vice. To explode and exterminate rank atheism out of this world. Bentley. 3. (Math.) To take away; to cause to disappear; to eliminate; as, to exterminate surds or unknown quantities from an equation.