obliterate

verb

1. (transitive)To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.

   “[H]e [Pope Gregory I] deſigned to obliterate and extinguiſh the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors.”

   “This opinion ſeemeth to me, to leave very little or no place for the Chriſtian Religion. For […] It obliterateth the notion of Gods Holineſs, vvhich to be no Holineſs, but a common or indifferent thing.”

   “VVhen vve forget Things; either the Impreſſions are obliterated, or the Images diſſolved into their firſt Principles, or Exterminated from the Brain, vvith the Current of the Animal Spirits into the Nerves.”

   “All tenderness for the feelings of others, all selfrespect, all sense of the becoming, were obliterated from his [George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys's] mind.”

   “The Four Years' War is over— […] A new race, a young and lusty generation, already sweeps in with oceanic currents, obliterating the war, and all its scars, its mounded graves, and all its reminiscences of hatred, conflict, death. So let it be obliterated.”

2. (transitive)To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.

   “The rainclouds obliterated the sun as they swept across the sky.”

   “Likevviſe the fragrancy of euery greene herbe yeeldeth ſuch a ſauour, as doth not a little obliterate and ouerſvvay the ſauour of the beaſt: […]”

   “When the ſhadows of the evening are ſtretched out, […] when the veil, that is caſt over the face of nature, obliterateth the variety of colours which owe their being to the light, and aboliſheth all the diſtinction of objects thence ariſing, introducing a joyleſs and uncomfortable uniformity, and rendering it impoſſible for any to "go forth to their labour;" […] then it is that deep ſleep falleth upon man.”

3. (also, figuratively, transitive)To make (a drawing, text which is printed or written, etc.) indecipherable, either by erasing or obscuring it; to blot out, to efface, to delete.

   “The Senate approuing all that vvas done, decreed that his name ſhould bee obliterated out of all monuments in Rome, and neuer any Antoninus (a name before very gratious) ſhould rule againe their Empire: ſo odious vvas the remembrance of this Image of Ignominy.”

   “[A]s one foule blot or daſh vvith a pen defaceth a vvhole vvriting, ſo one foule and enormous crime daſheth and obliterateth the faireſt copy of a vertuous life.”

   “As vvhen a name lodg'd in the memory, / But yet through time almoſt obliterate, / Confuſely hovers near the phantaſie: / The man that's thus affected bids relate / A catologue of names.”

   “Becauſe our Conſcience is ſprinkled by the blood of Chriſt, vvhich defaceth and obliterateth all thoſe black Items, that othervviſe vvould be continually calling upon us.”

   “Blessed art thou, O Lord, universal King! who pardonest and forgivest our sins, and the sins of thy people Israel, and obliteratest our guilt year after year; […]”

4. (transitive)To impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it (in the latter case, chiefly by filling it with tissue).

   “In the developing embryo the foregut is surrounded by a group of vascular structures of bilateral distribution connected with the branchial arches. Portions of these arches are obliterated to form the normally described aorta and great vessels. The ultimate persistence of only one main vascular arch, the left, as the aorta, permits the trachea and oesophagus to lie freely to its right side.”

   “The pleural sac was obliterated by firm fibrous adhesions over the right upper lobe.”

   “Compression of an aneurysm of the left carotid artery should obliterate only the pulses of the distribution of this artery, not those of the femoral arteries. If the mass is an aneurysm of the right common carotid artery, manual compression should obliterate the distribution of this vessel and, because of its location, may also obliterate the vessels of the right arm. However, femoral pulsations should be preserved.”

5. (transitive)To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.
6. (intransitive)To be destroyed completely, leaving no trace.
7. (intransitive)Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to obstruction.

   “distal pulses obliterate until perfusion is restored”

adj

1. (obsolete)Completely destroyed or erased; effaced, obliterated.

   “[G]o to the herald's office, […] and thou shalt find in that office as many records of attainted families, and escheated families, and impoverished and forgotten, and obliterate families, as of families newly erected and presently celebrated.”

   “It may maintain a bright conjecture, againſt a ruſty Truth: a legible poſſeſſion, againſt an obliterate Claime: […]”

   “And they being in a capacity to forget by reaſon of deſuetude, it vvill be a nevv pleaſure to them to recall to minde their almoſt obliterate ſpeculations.”

   “[…] then how swiftly and how wonderfully, he reads all the obscurest and most obliterate inscriptions he finds in his memory; […]”

2. (obsolete, rare)Of markings on an insect: difficult to distinguish from the background; faint, indistinct.