liquidate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
    knock off; neutralize; do in; waste; neutralise.
    • The mafia liquidated the informer
    • the double agent was neutralized
  2. verb eliminate by paying off (debts)
    pay off.
  3. verb convert into cash
    • I had to liquidate my holdings to pay off my ex-husband
  4. verb settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off
    • liquidate a company

WordNet

Liq"ui*date transitive verb
Etymology
LL. liquidatus, p. p. of liquidate to liquidate, fr. L. liquidus liquid, clear. See Liquid.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Liquidated ; present participle & verbal noun Liquidating
Definitions
  1. (Law) To determine by agreement or by litigation the precise amount of (indebtedness); or, where there is an indebtedness to more than one person, to determine the precise amount of (each indebtedness); to make the amount of (an indebtedness); clear and certain.
    A debt or demand is liquidated whenever the amount due is agreed on by the parties, or fixed by the operation of law. 15 Ga. Rep. 821.
    If our epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be brought in considerable debtor. Chesterfield.
  2. In an extended sense: To ascertain the amount, or the several amounts, of , and apply assets toward the discharge of (an indebtedness). Abbott.
  3. To discharge; to pay off, as an indebtedness.
    Friburg was ceded to Zurich by Sigismund to liquidate a debt of a thousand florins. W. Coxe.
  4. To make clear and intelligible.
    Time only can liquidate the meaning of all parts of a compound system. A. Hamilton.
  5. To make liquid. Obs. Abbott.

Webster 1913