erase: Meaning and Definition of

e•rase

Pronunciation: (i-rās'), [key]
— v., e•rased, e•ras•ing.
—v.t.
  1. to rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, etc.; efface.
  2. to eliminate completely: She couldn't erase the tragic scene from her memory.
  3. to obliterate (material recorded on magnetic tape or a magnetic disk): She erased the message.
  4. to obliterate recorded material from (a magnetic tape or disk): He accidentally erased the tape.
  5. to remove (data) from computer storage.
  6. to murder: The gang had to erase him before he informed on them.
—v.i.
  1. to give way to effacement readily or easily.
  2. to obliterate characters, letters, markings, etc., from something.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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