blot out
Obliterate, wipe out of existence or memory, as in At least one Indian nation was blotted out as the pioneers moved west, or The trauma of the accident blotted out all her memory of recent events. This idiom, first recorded in 1516, uses the verb to blot in the sense of making something illegible by spotting or staining it with ink. The New Testament has it (Acts 3:19): “Repent ye ... that your sins may be blotted out.”
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use blot out in a sentence
Like Amalek, the Biblical evil-doer whose name we are enjoined to “blot out.”
How Do We Deal with the Baseless Hatred at the Western Wall? | Emily L. Hauser | July 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut we must remember not only to not forget, but to blot out the enemy—not mercifully, but through genocide.
I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousMen surged forward to close in and blot out the glow from the killer's fingers.
She interrupted me with a little heart-broken cry and clapped her hands to her eyes to blot out some horrid picture.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh Pendexter
He was the last sacrifice, to blot out the sins of all who have faith in him.
Then, high on a plateau of stone above the tall man's head, Scott saw the stars blot out.
Feline Red | Robert Sampson
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