Crossword clues for sterilize
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sterilize \Ster"il*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sterilized; p. pr. & vb. n. Sterilizing.] [Cf. F. st['e]riliser.]
To make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility. [R.] ``Sterilizing the earth.''
--Woodward.(Biol.) To deprive of the power of reproducing; to render incapable of germination or fecundation; to make sterile.
(Microbiology, Medicine) To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture) or on (a medical instrument), as by heat, so as to prevent contamination by bacteria or other organisms. A common method of sterilization in laboratories and medical facilities is to heat a liquid sample or an instrument in an autoclave.
To destroy all spores or germs on (a surface) by wetting with an antiseptic liquid, such as an alcoholic solution.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"destroy the fertility of," 1690s (in reference to soil), from French stériliser or else from sterile + -ize; of living things from 1828. Meaning "render free of micro-organisms" is from 1878. Related: Sterilized; sterilizing.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 To deprive a male or female the ability to procreate. 2 To make unable to produce. To make unprofitable. 3 (context biology English) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores that would be on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product. vb. 1 To deprive a male or female the ability to procreate. 2 To make unable to produce. To make unprofitable. 3 (context biology English) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores that would be on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.
WordNet
v. make free from bacteria [syn: sterilise]
make infertile; "in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disbilites are sterilized" [syn: sterilise, desex, unsex, desexualize, desexualise, fix]
Usage examples of "sterilize".
Ahf Noot and four of his assistants entered the first section of the operating theatre and remained there several hours where they were subjected to waves of bactericides and air saturated with antiseptic emanations until their very breath became sterilized.
Small tablets of hypochlorite of lime, each one sufficient to sterilize a pail of water, were also ordered and issued to the first Canadian division, and proved useful.
Everything which has come in contact with measles patients should be sterilized before it is allowed to come in contact with other people or other things which may be handled or used by other people.
The Poles and Czechs and most of the French had been persecuted, prevented from mating and procreating, and finally even sterilized, until their stock had been completely destroyed.
Disposable syringes and needles had finally arrived in Vietnam the last month, which relieved the medics from having to clean and sterilize syringes and resharpen needles.
He treated the wound with a sulphonamide derivative in routine procedure, cleaned and sterilized the edges gently, applied clamps carefully, removed the pin, and began stitching with the complicated little motor needleone of the few gadgets for which he had any real appreciation.
Whole planets had been sterilized, whole solar systems laid waste by the unliving enemy.
There the wort ferments under reduced pressure, the carbonic acid generated being removed by means of a vacuum pump, and the gas thus withdrawn is replaced by the introduction of cool sterilized air.
Clifford said, faintly ashamed of his outburst and covering his reaction by making a great business of sterilizing the hemometer probe.
Art would stumble helplessly into a betrayal of the Parrs, and Rita would hate him for that, even if she were not thrown in jail and forcibly sterilized herself.
The team had the Tingalean rolled over and her back prepped and sterilized.
So successful was this programine that it is still carried out in Texas, where, during the screwworm mating season, the USDA raises and releases 150 million sterilized males a week.
Hefn, and their Directive, and the Baby Ban Broadcast that had sterilized just about every person on the planet, there would be no black bear population in east central Kentucky -- or elk population, or population of coyotes approaching the size of wolves, all busily subspeciating in the fascinating ways they were doing.
Placing the scalpels in an autoclave to dry and sterilize, the man removed the gloves, washed his hands very carefully, then dried them on a linen towel.
They were using solvents in there, mostly for cleaning and sterilizing stuff.