vertilgen

From Middle High German vertilgen, vertiligen, from Old High German firtīligōn. Equivalent to ver- +‎ tilgen.

• IPA^(key): [fɛɐ̯ˈtɪlɡn̩]

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: ver‧til‧gen

vertilgen (weak, third-person singular present vertilgt, past tense vertilgte, past participle vertilgt, auxiliary haben) (transitive)

1. (literary) to eradicate, to destroy, to erase (mainly of pests, weeds, traces)

   Synonyms: tilgen, vernichten

   • 1917, Ricarda Huch, Der Fall Deruga [The Deruga Case]‎^[1]:

     Dann stellte ich in den beiden Zimmern alles so, wie es vorher gewesen war, ging in die Küche, reinigte das Glas, vertilgte überhaupt jede Spur meiner Anwesenheit und ging fort.

     Then I put everything in both rooms back just the way it had been before, went into the kitchen, cleaned the glass, in genreal erased every trace of my presence and left.

2. to consume, to eat (of animals, often to describe eating habits)
3. (colloquial) to eat up, to gobble up (to consume completely and with relish, often implying a degree of excess)

• Vertilgen, Vertilger, Vertilgung
• vertilgend, vertilgt

• “vertilgen” in Duden online
• “vertilgen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache