destroy

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To ruin completely; spoil: The ancient manuscripts were destroyed by fire.
2. v. To tear down or break up; demolish. See Synonyms at ruin.
3. v. To do away with; put an end to: "In crowded populations, poverty destroys the possibility of cleanliness” ( George Bernard Shaw).
4. v. To kill: destroy a rabid dog.
5. v. To subdue or defeat completely; crush: The rebel forces were destroyed in battle.
6. v. To render useless or ineffective: destroyed the testimony of the prosecution's chief witness.
7. v. To be destructive; cause destruction: "Too much money destroys as surely as too little” ( John Simon).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To pull down; unbuild (that which has been built or constructed); demolish: as, to destroy a building or a fortification; to destroy a city.
2. To overthrow; lay waste; ruin; make desolate.
3. To kill; slay; extirpate: applied to men or animals.
4. To bring to naught; put an end to; annihilate; obliterate entirely; cause to cease, or to cease to be: as, to destroy one's happiness or peace of mind by worry.
5. To counteract or render of no avail; take away, detract from, or vitiate the power, force, value, use, or beauty of; ruin; spoil: as, to destroy a person's influence.
6. To refute; disprove.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To. damage beyond use or repair.
2. v. intransitive To cause destruction.
3. v. transitive To neutralize, undo a property or condition.
4. v. transitive To put down or euthanize.
5. v. colloquial, transitive To defeat soundly.
6. v. computing, transitive To remove data.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To unbuild; to pull or tear down; to separate virulently into its constituent parts; to break up the structure and organic existence of; to demolish.
2. v. To ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume.
3. v. To put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. destroy completely; damage irreparably
2. v. put (an animal) to death
3. v. do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of
4. v. defeat soundly