Also 8 -er. [ad. L. ex(s)tirpātor, agent-n. f. ex(s)tirpāre: see EXTIRPATE v.] One who, or that which, extirpates.
1706. in Phillips (ed. Kersey), Extirpator one that Extirpates or Destroys, as an Extirpater of Heresies.
1776–83. Justamond, trans. Raynal’s Hist. Indies (ed. 2), I. 283. These extirpators with all their industry can only execute their commission upon the coast.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1807), I. 35. The extirpator is a machine of this sort … for destroying weeds.
1830. D’Israeli, Charles I., III. xii. 264. The great extirpator of episcopacy.
1870. R. Anderson, Missions Amer. Board, III. viii. 115. Three men … extirpators of heresy.
