erase Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb remove from memory or existence
    wipe out.
    • The Turks erased the Armenians in 1915
  2. verb remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing
    efface; wipe off; score out; rub out.
    • Please erase the formula on the blackboard--it is wrong!
  3. verb wipe out digitally or magnetically recorded information
    delete.
    • Who erased the files form my hard disk?

WordNet

E*rase" transitive verb
Etymology
L. erasus, p. p. of eradere to erase; e out + radere to scrape, scratch, shave. See Rase.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Erased present participle & verbal noun Erasing
Definitions
  1. To rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved, or painted; to efface; to expunge; to cross out; as, to erase a word or a name.
  2. Fig.: To obliterate; to expunge; to blot out; -- used of ideas in the mind or memory. Burke.

Webster 1913