liquidate
Etymology

From Medieval Latin liquidatus (“liquid, clear”), past participle of liquidare.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈlɪkwədeɪt/, /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/
Verb

liquidate (liquidates, present participle liquidating; simple past and past participle liquidated)

  1. (transitive) To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount.
    • 1779, William Coxe, Sketches of the Natural, Political and Civil State of Switzerland:
      Friburg was ceded to Zurich by Sigismund to liquidate a debt of a thousand florins.
  2. (transitive) To settle the affairs of (a company), by using its assets to pay its debts.
  3. (transitive) To convert (assets) into cash; to redeem.
  4. (legal, transitive) To determine by agreement or by litigation the precise amount of (indebtedness); to make the amount of (a debt) clear and certain.
    • 1851, Hargroves v. Cooke, 15th Georgia Reports 321:
      A debt or demand is liquidated whenever the amount due is agreed on by the parties, or fixed by the operation of law.
    • February 27, 1759, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, letter to his son (letter CXXVIII)
      If our epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be brought in considerably debtor.
  5. (transitive) To do away with.
  6. (transitive) to kill, destroy, eliminate (mostly for political or ideological reasons)
  7. (obsolete, transitive) To make clear and intelligible.
  8. (obsolete, transitive) To make liquid.
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