sterilise

See also: stérilisé and stérilise

English

Etymology

Verb

sterilise (third-person singular simple present sterilises, present participle sterilising, simple past and past participle sterilised)

(British and Commonwealth) Alternative spelling of sterilize
- 1923, Philip Buckle, Rovert A. Wardle, The Principles of Insect Control‎^[1], Arnold, page 198:
  The use of heat as a sterilising agent is a method of long standing and is particularly effective against most insects. Insects are very susceptible to high temperatures, the ultramaximum temperature—the temperature which will kill an insect instantly—being for the great majority of insects about 140 degrees F. A moderately high temperature, however, if applied for several hours is usually as fatal as a much higher temperature applied for a shorter time.
- 1938, The Homestead, numbers 1170-1196, page 14:
  […] one tablet completely sterilises a quart of water, tastelessly, without discolouration or odour.
- 1967, Donald Howard Grainger, Don't Die in the Bundu:
  Inspect them for rub marks and blisters; tape or bandage rub marks; clean the skin around a blister, use a sterilised needle to puncture it at its outer edge and press out the fluid, then bandage.
- 2019 February 10, Damian Carrington, “Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:
  He thinks new classes of insecticides introduced in the last 20 years, including neonicotinoids and fipronil, have been particularly damaging as they are used routinely and persist in the environment: “They sterilise the soil, killing all the grubs.”