OBLIT'ERATE, verb transitive [Latin oblitero; ob and litera, letter.] 1. To efface; to erase or blot out any thing written; or to efface any thing engraved. A writing may be obliterated by erasure, by blotting, or by the slow operation of time or natural causes. 2. To efface; to wear out; to destroy by time or other means; as, to obliterate ideas or impressions; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity; to obliterate reproach. 3. To reduce to a very low or imperceptible state. The torpor of the vascular system and obliterated pulse.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI