The Collaborative International Dictionary
Irradiate \Ir*ra"di*ate\ ([i^]r*r[=a]"d[i^]*[=a]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Irradiated ([i^]r*r[=a]"d[i^]*[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Irradiating ([i^]r*r[=a]"d[i^]*[=a]`t[i^]ng).] [L. irradiatus, p. p. of irradiate. See In- in, and Radiate.]
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To throw rays of light upon; to illuminate; to brighten; to adorn with luster.
Thy smile irradiates yon blue fields.
--Sir W. Jones. To enlighten intellectually; to illuminate; as, to irradiate the mind.
--Bp. Bull.To animate by heat or light.
--Sir M. Hale.-
To radiate, shed, or diffuse.
A splendid fa[,c]ade, . . . irradiating hospitality.
--H. James. To expose to radiation of any kind, especially ionizing radiation; as, to sterilize food by irradiating it with gamma rays; one can cause mutations in bacteria by irradiating them with ultraviolet light.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of irradiate English)
Usage examples of "irradiating".
Behind her the routine clunk of fresh ice cubes dropping in the Kelvinator, and on the Formica counter at her elbow the Sony portable coolly irradiating her body with the problems of today's women: VIXENS BEHIND BARS: GIRLS WHO HAVE KILLED THEIR LOVERS.
And below me this fine pavement, pavement of the first quality, fine concrete appropriately curbed, and these handsome street lamps, full of this aggressive blue light that seems to go where no man has gone before, in under the tree limbs, in under the eaves of the houses, irradiating the darkness, revealing, revealing.
The FBI's involvement in the far-reaching Trigger fraud was not limited to inserting microscopic radio detonators into commercial explosives and surreptitiously irradiating gunpowder supplies.