Dictionary entry

Eliminate

Webster's Dictionary 1913

E‐lim″i‐nate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Eliminated (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Eliminating (?).] [L. eliminatus, p. p. of eliminare; e out + limen threshold; prob. akin to limes boundary. See Limit.] 1. To put out of doors; to expel; to discharge; to release; to set at liberty.

Eliminate my spirit, give it range

Through provinces of thought yet unexplored. Young.

2. (Alg.) To cause to disappear from an equation; as, to eliminate an unknown quantity.

3. To set aside as unimportant in a process of inductive inquiry; to leave out of consideration.

Eliminate errors that have been gathering and accumulating. Lowth.

4. To obtain by separating, as from foreign matters; to deduce; as, to eliminate an idea or a conclusion.

5. (Physiol.) To separate; to expel from the system; to excrete; as, the kidneys eliminate urea, the lungs carbonic acid; to eliminate poison from the system.