sterilize : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: sterilize	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for sterilize
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
sterilize v make free from bacteria Synonym(s): sterilize, sterilise make infertile; "in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized" Synonym(s): sterilize, sterilise, desex, unsex, desexualize, desexualise, fix
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[82]riliser.] 1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] [bd]Sterilizing the earth.[b8] --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.