Liquidate

Liquidate

Verb · /ˈlɪk.wɪ.deɪt/

Definition

To wind up the affairs of a business and use its assets to pay its debts; to convert assets into cash; to eliminate or kill, particularly to eliminate a political opponent or enemy; to settle or pay off a debt.

Origin

From medieval Latin liquidatus, past participle of liquidare (to make liquid, to clarify), from liquidus (liquid, fluid, clear). The financial sense — making assets fluid by converting them to cash — uses the liquid metaphor directly. The sense of elimination of a person developed in 20th-century political usage, particularly in Soviet Russian contexts.