EXTINGUISH

eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, eradicate, wipe out, decimate, carry off

(verb) kill in large numbers; “the plague wiped out an entire population”

extinguish, eliminate, get rid of, do away with

(verb) terminate, end, or take out; “Let’s eliminate the course on Akkadian hieroglyphics”; “Socialism extinguished these archaic customs”; “eliminate my debts”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Verb

extinguish (third-person singular simple present extinguishes, present participle extinguishing, simple past and past participle extinguished)

(transitive) to put out, as in fire; to end burning; to quench

(transitive) to destroy or abolish something

(transitive) to obscure or eclipse something

(transitive, psychology) to bring about the extinction of a conditioned reflex

(transitive, literally) to hunt down (a species) to extinction

(intransitive) To die out.

Synonyms

• put out, quench, douse

• See also destroy

Source: Wiktionary

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Ex*tin"guish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Extinguished(); p pr. & vb. n. Extinguishing.] Etym: [L. extinguere, exstinguere; ex out + stinguere to quench. See Distinguish, Finish.]

1. To quench; to put out, as a light or fire; to stifle; to cause to die out; to put an end to; to destroy; as, to extinguish a flame, or life, or love, or hope, a pretense or a right. A light which the fierce winds have no power to extinguish. Prescott. This extinguishes my right to the reversion. Blackstone.

2. To obscure; to eclipse, as by superior splendor. Natural graces that extinguish art. Shak .

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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