erase

From Latin erasus, past participle of eradere (“to scrape, to abrade”), from ex- (“out of”) + radere (“to scrape”). Compare Middle English arasen, aracen (“to eradicate, erase”). Displaced native Old English dilegian.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭ-rāzʹ, IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹeɪz/
• (US) enPR: ĭ-rāsʹ, IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹeɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz, -eɪs

erase (third-person singular simple present erases, present participle erasing, simple past and past participle erased)

1. (transitive) to remove markings or information

   I erased that note because it was wrong.

2. (transitive) To obliterate information from (a storage medium), such as to clear or (with magnetic storage) to demagnetize.

   I'm going to erase this tape.

3. (transitive) To obliterate (information) from a storage medium, such as to clear or to overwrite.

   I'm going to erase those files.

4. (transitive, baseball) To remove a runner from the bases via a double play or pick off play

   Jones was erased by a 6-4-3 double play.

5. (intransitive) To be erased (have markings removed, have information removed, or be cleared of information).

   The chalkboard erased easily.

   The files will erase quickly.

6. (transitive) To disregard (a group, an orientation, etc.); to prevent from having an active role in society.
   • 1998, Janice Lynn Ristock, Catherine Taylor, Inside the academy and out:

     I suggest, then, that counterdiscourses, when reductive, tend to emulate the screen discourse that erases gay sociality.

   • 2004, Daniel Lefkowitz, Words and Stones, page 209:

     As a result, Palestinians are hyperpresent in Israeli media, while Mizrahim are erased from public discourse.

   • 2011, Qwo-Li Driskill, Queer Indigenous Studies, page 40:

     Silence around Native sexuality benefits the colonizers and erases queer Native people from their communities.

   • 2020 April 24, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in New York Time‎^[1]:

     C.J. Henderson has the speed and anticipation to erase receivers all over the field, and his athleticism is absurd; according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Henderson bench presses 380 pounds and squats 545.

7. (transitive, slang) To kill; assassinate.

• (antonym(s) of “remove markings or information”): record

• erasure

erase (plural erases)

1. (computing) The operation of deleting data.
   • 2000, Mark D. Hill, Norman P. Jouppi, Gurindar S. Sohi, Readings in Computer Architecture, page 603:

     This subsystem is waiting to become Exclusive after having issued an erase.

• Rease, eares, easer, saree

erase

1. third-person singular past historic of eradere

erase f pl

1. feminine plural of eraso

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /eːˈraː.se/, [eːˈräːs̠ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈra.se/, [eˈräːs̬e]

ērāse

1. vocative masculine singular of ērāsus