Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To remove (something written, for example) by rubbing, wiping, or scraping.
- transitive verb To remove (recorded material) from a magnetic tape or other storage medium.
- transitive verb To remove recorded material from (a magnetic tape or disk, for example).
- transitive verb To remove all traces of; eliminate or obliterate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In entomology, sinuate, with the sinuses cut into smaller irregular notches: applied especially to the wings of certain Lepidoptera.
- To rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, or painted; efface; blot or strike out; obliterate; expunge: as, to
erase a word or a name. - Hence To remove or destroy, as if by rubbing or blotting out.
- To destroy to the foundation; raze.
- Synonyms Cancel, Obliterate, etc. (see
efface ); wipe out, rub off, remove.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, or painted; to efface; to expunge; to cross out.
- transitive verb Fig.: To obliterate; to expunge; to blot out; -- used of ideas in the mind or memory.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive to
remove markings orinformation - verb transitive To
obliterate information from (astorage medium ), such as toclear or (with magnetic storage) todemagnetize . - verb transitive To
obliterate (information ) from astorage medium , such as toclear or tooverwrite . - verb transitive, baseball To remove a
runner from the bases via adouble play or pick off play - verb intransitive To be erased (have markings removed, have information removed, or be cleared of information).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb wipe out digitally or magnetically recorded information
- verb remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing
- verb remove from memory or existence
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their persons. (par 2)
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The idea to come up with a way to erase from the board all the Star Trek canon that everyone knows is terrific.
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One thing the demolition won't erase is the memories.
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Some deaths can have a Stephen Kinguesque nature to them and try as you might, they can be hard to erase from the memory. on March 24, 2008 at 1: 30 pm | Reply Noddy
Fava Beans And A Nice Chianti « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008
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This is the lesson of the 1930s, which Republican and libertarian propaganda has striven mightily, and successfully, to erase from the American memory, allowing it to happen all over again.
Bush Team Seeks Dictatorial Financial Powers « Antiwar.com Blog 2008
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This is the lesson of the 1930s, which Republican/libertarian/right-wing propaganda has striven mightily, and successfully, to erase from the American memory, allowing it to happen all over again. xearther
Bush Team Seeks Dictatorial Financial Powers « Antiwar.com Blog 2008
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Unknown to us, it actually did work and apparently contained recordings of personal conversations the customer failed to erase from the memory before returning the product.
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You can go back in time and erase from the fabric of TV history THREE individual episodes of any TV show you want!
February 28th, 2007 redbeard 2007
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Anything that can erase from the memory the first movie is a good thing
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Shots of the Silver Surfer on the set of FF 2 2006
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And it has proven to be hard to erase from the courts, with more than 160 lawsuits brought by individuals, businesses and governments.
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