[f. STERILIZE v. + -ER1.] One who, or something that, sterilizes.
1. A substance that renders soil sterile.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 793. [Lime from magnesian limestone] has been unfairly denounced by Mr. Tennent and Sir H. Davy, as a sterilizer.
2. An apparatus for destroying micro-organisms.
1891. G. S. Woodhead, Bacteria, 393. Steam Sterilizer.
1895. Arnold & Sons’ Catal. Surg. Instrum., 716. Sterilizer for Ligatures.
1898. Eva C. E. Lückes, Gen. Nursing, xi. 144. Schimmelbusch’s sterilizer is the one most used for the sterilization of instruments.
