Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To pay off (a debt, claim, or obligation); settle.
  • intransitive verb To settle the affairs of (a business firm, for example) by determining the liabilities and applying the assets to their discharge.
  • intransitive verb To convert (assets) into cash.
  • intransitive verb To eliminate, especially by killing.
  • intransitive verb To settle a debt, claim, or obligation.
  • intransitive verb To settle the affairs of a business or estate by disposing of its assets and liabilities.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make clear or plain; clarify; free from obscurity.
  • To clear up; reduce to order or precision; settle the particulars of; adjust: as, to liquidate the affairs of a bankrupt firm. See liquidation.
  • To clear off; settle; pay: as, to liquidate a debt or a mortgage.
  • To make less harsh and offensive: as, to liquidate the harshness of sound.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Law) To determine by agreement or by litigation the precise amount of (indebtedness); or, where there is an indebtedness to more than one person, to determine the precise amount of (each indebtedness); to make the amount of (an indebtedness) clear and certain.
  • transitive verb In an extended sense: To ascertain the amount, or the several amounts, of, and apply assets toward the discharge of (an indebtedness).
  • transitive verb To discharge; to pay off or settle, as an indebtedness.
  • transitive verb To make clear and intelligible.
  • transitive verb obsolete To make liquid.
  • transitive verb To convert (assets) into cash.
  • transitive verb To kill; -- used mostly of governments or organizations killing their enemies.
  • transitive verb To dissolve (an organization); to terminate (an activity).
  • transitive verb (Law) damages the amount of which is fixed or ascertained.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount.
  • verb transitive To settle the affairs of (a company), by using its assets to pay its debts.
  • verb transitive To convert (assets) into cash.
  • verb transitive To do away with.
  • verb transitive To kill.
  • verb law, transitive To determine by agreement or by litigation the precise amount of (indebtedness); to make the amount of (a debt) clear and certain.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To make clear and intelligible.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To make liquid.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb convert into cash
  • verb get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
  • verb settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off
  • verb eliminate by paying off (debts)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin liquidāre, liquidāt-, to melt, from Latin liquidus, liquid; see liquid.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin liquidus ("liquid, clear"). The sense "to kill" comes from Russian likviditet.

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Examples

  • Liquidate liquidate liquidate is not going to lead us to an equilibrium point, either.

    Matthew Yglesias » Question for Stimuskeptics 2009

  • They all agree, in fact, that the value of all property has gone down at least half, a loss, if the nation had to sell up -- which it has not, but has only to 'liquidate' -- of a sum greater than required to buy up all the slaves and set them free.

    Canada and the States 1860

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Israel minister vows to 'liquidate' Gaza's Hamas rulers A SENIOR minister has warned that Israel will "liquidate" the Islamist Hamas-run government in Gaza following deadly weekend clashes that killed two Israeli soldiers.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2010

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