extirp

English

Etymology

Compare French extirper.

Verb

extirp (third-person singular simple present extirps, present participle extirping, simple past and past participle extirped)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To extirpate (something).
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 73, column 2:

     Yes in good ſooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is vvell allied, but it is impoſſible to extirpe it quite, Frier, till eating and drinking be put dovvne.

Further reading

• “extirp”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.