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sterilize |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Sterilize \Ster"il*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Sterilized}; p. pr & vb n. {Sterilizing}.] [Cf. F. st['e]riliser.] 1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] ``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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: sterilize v 1: make free from bacteria 2: make infertile; of both males and females [syn: {desex}, {unsex}, {desexualize}, {fix}]
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