Ster″il‐ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Sterilized (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Sterilizing (?).] [Cf. F. stériliser.] 1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. “Sterilizing the earth.” Woodward.
2. (Biol.) (a) To deprive of the power of reproducing; to render incapable of germination or fecundation; to make sterile. (b) To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.