online medical dictionary | definition of eliminate

1. To put out of doors; to expel; to discharge; to release; to set at liberty. "Eliminate my spirit, give it range Through provinces of thought yet unexplored." (Young)

2. <mathematics> To cause to disappear from an equation; as, to eliminate an unknown quantity.

3. To set aside as unimportant in a process of inductive inquiry; to leave out of consideration. "Eliminate errors that have been gathering and accumulating." (Lowth)

4. To obtain by separating, as from foreign matters; to deduce; as, to eliminate an idea or a conclusion.

5. <physiology> To separate; to expel from the system; to excrete; as, the kidneys eliminate urea, the lungs carbonic acid; to eliminate poison from the system.

Origin: L. Eliminatus, p. P. Of eliminare; e out + limen threshold; prob. Akin to limes boundary. See Limit.

(01 Mar 1998)