Sterilize
Pronunciation : Ster"il*ize
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [Cf. F. st?riliser.]
Definition : 1. To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] "Sterilizing the earth." 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.
t. [imp. & p. p. Sterilized; p. pr. & vb. n. Sterilizing.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913