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erase

[ih-reys]
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verb (used with object), e·rased, e·ras·ing.
  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. Computers. to remove (data) from computer storage.
  6. Slang. to murder: The gang had to erase him before he informed on them.
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verb (used without object), e·rased, e·ras·ing.
  1. to give way to effacement readily or easily.
  2. to obliterate characters, letters, markings, etc., from something.
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Origin of erase

1595–1605; < Latin ērāsus (past participle of ērādere), equivalent to ē- e-1 + rāsus scraped; see raze
Related formse·ras·a·bil·i·ty, noune·ras·a·ble, adjectivehalf-e·rased, adjectivenon·e·ras·a·ble, adjectiveun·e·ras·a·ble, adjectiveun·e·rased, adjectiveun·e·ras·ing, adjective
Can be confusederasable irascible

Synonyms

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1. expunge, obliterate.

Synonym study

1. See cancel.

Antonyms

1, 3. restore.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for erasable

erase

verb
  1. to obliterate or rub out (something written, typed, etc)
  2. (tr) to destroy all traces of; remove completelytime erases grief
  3. to remove (a recording) from (magnetic tape)
  4. (tr) computing to replace (data) on a storage device with characters representing an absence of data
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Derived Formserasable, adjective

Word Origin

C17: from Latin ērādere to scrape off, from ex- 1 + rādere to scratch, scrape
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for erasable

adj.

1849, from erase + -able.

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erase

v.

c.1600, from Latin erasus, past participle of eradere "scrape out, scrape off, shave," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + radere "to scrape" (see raze). Of magnetic tape, from 1945. Related: Erased; erasing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper