Also 7 extirpat. [f. L. ex(s)tirpāt- ppl. stem of ex(s)tirpāre, f. ex- (see EX- pref.1) + stirp-s stem or stock of a tree. Cf. EXTIRP v.]
† 1. trans. To clear of stumps. In quot. fig. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 426. He might wede, extirpate, and purdge the myndes of men.
2. To pull or pluck up by the roots; to root up, destroy, or remove root and branch (a tree, plant).
1651. W. G., trans. Cowel’s Inst., 278. All such Offenders should have … their Woods extirpated and grub’d up.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 213. Pluck up Strawberry Runners, extirpate the tall Stalks.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1704), 189. Extirpate noxious and unprofitable Herbs.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xxv. 746. The vines and fruit trees … were extirpated.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., iii. (1813), 31. The better way … is … to extirpate the intermediate trees.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ., I. I. xi. § 3. 200. The wood seems to have been long extirpated.
fig. 1836. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 2), II. vi. 71. Regeneration … does not extirpate the root of evil.
† b. transf.
c. 1666. in Murray’s Lincolnshire (1890), 24. The old Church … having been ‘extirpated by a hurricane’ in 1666.
c. esp. in Surg. To root out, remove (anything spoken of as having roots).
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 131. For men then to labour to extirpate … the Beard … is a practical blasphemy.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 167. Extirpating several breasts, and large tumors.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scot. in 1772, 84. A small pair of pincers, for the purpose of extirpating hairs; a practice much in use among the Romans.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 242/1. When a nævus is extirpated, it seems to consist of a mass of cellular tissue.
3. To root out, exterminate, or totally destroy (a class, sect or nation); to kill off, and render extinct (a species of animals or plants). Const. out of, from.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., II. xvi. 41, in Holinshed. Yet was their nobilitie so honourable and great; that by no meanes … was the same to be extirpated or rooted out.
1649. Alcoran, 41. God loveth not the unjust, he forgiveth sins to those that believe, and extirpate Infidels.
1692. Locke, Consid. Lower. Interest, 117 (J.). The breed ought to be extirpated out of the Island.
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, Varieties of Man, 206. The Pygmies were extirpated by their wars.
1882. Emma R. Pitman, Mission Life in Greece & Pal., 310. The founder of Islam … believing in the mission of the sword to extirpate all Christians and Jews.
b. In weaker sense: To do away with, render extinct as such (a specified class of persons); to root out utterly, break up (a gang of thieves). Formerly also, † to drive out, clear away (persons) from a locality, etc.
1566. Painter, Pal. Pleas., I. 10. I will driue and extirpate oute of this Citie both L. Tarquinius Superbus, and his wicked wife, with all the race of his children and progenie.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 125. He … Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the Dukedom.
1713. Steele, Englishman, No. 4. 23. The Comedies, you see, have extirpated the whole Species of Beaux.
1737. Common Sense (1738), I. 186. The Honour of extirpating such a notorious Robber from the Society.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 205. It is undoubtedly one of the first duties of every government to extirpate gangs of thieves.
4. To root out, eradicate (an immaterial thing, e.g., heresy, vice, etc.). Const. † out of, from.
1539. J. Husee, in Lisle Papers, V. 75. I hope it shall please your Lordship to extirpate this sudden desperate sorrow … out of the bottom of your stomach.
1549. Latimer, Serm. Ploughers (Arb.), 37. He destroied al Idolatrie, and clearly dyd extirpate all superstition.
1660. R. Coke, Justice Vind., Pref. 19. Until monarchy or regal power should be extirpated in all the world.
1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xix. § 15. With what chance of success … would a legislator go about to extirpate drunkenness … by dint of legal punishment?
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxv. The holy Church is awakened … to extirpate heresy by fire and steel.
1838. Emerson, Nat., Lit. Ethics, Wks. (Bohn), II. 205. Neither years nor books have yet availed to extirpate a prejudice then rooted in me.
Hence Extirpated ppl. a. Extirpating vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., II. (1851), 65. The final extirpating of that whole Nation.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, ix. 34. All possible means were used … for the extirpating of superstition.
1827. Southey, Penins. War, II. 25. The Spaniards had to atone for extirpated nations.
1865. Bushnell, Vicar. Sacr., III. v. 279. Sin … a desolating, extirpating power in souls.
