pul·ver·ize

[puhl-vuh-rahyz] verb, pul·ver·ized, pul·ver·iz·ing.
verb (used with object)
1.
to reduce to dust or powder, as by pounding or grinding.
2.
to demolish or crush completely.
3.
Slang. to defeat, hurt badly, or, figuratively, render helpless: The Kid pulverized Jackson with a series of brutal lefts. He's a veteran nightclub comic who can pulverize any audience in seconds.
verb (used without object)
4.
to become reduced to dust.
Also, especially British, pul·ver·ise.


Origin:
1575–85; < Late Latin pulverizāre to reduce to powder, equivalent to Latin pulver- (stem of pulvis; akin to pollen) dust + -izāre -ize

pul·ver·iz·a·ble, adjective
pul·ver·i·za·tion, noun
pul·ver·iz·er, noun
sub·pul·ver·iz·er, noun
un·pul·ver·ized, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To pulverize
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Pulverize is one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
Collins
World English Dictionary
pulverize or pulverise (ˈpʌlvəˌraɪz) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  to reduce (a substance) to fine particles, as by crushing or grinding, or (of a substance) to be so reduced
2.  (tr) to destroy completely; defeat or injure seriously
 
[C16: from Late Latin pulverizare or French pulvériser, from Latin pulverum, from pulvis dust]
 
pulverise or pulverise
 
vb
 
[C16: from Late Latin pulverizare or French pulvériser, from Latin pulverum, from pulvis dust]
 
'pulverizable or pulverise
 
adj
 
'pulverisable or pulverise
 
adj
 
pulveri'zation or pulverise
 
n
 
pulveri'sation or pulverise
 
n
 
'pulverizer or pulverise
 
n
 
'pulveriser or pulverise
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pulverize
1471 (implied in pp. pulverizate), from L.L. pulverizare "reduce to powder or dust," from L. pulvis (gen. pulveris) "dust" (see pollen).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Starts grinding and screening equipment to pulverize and sift tankage,
  cracklings, and cooked blood for sacking.
Its tendrils threatened to pulverize my mind and my courage and my stomach, and
  crack my bones and desiccate my body.
To distinguish between the two, pulverize the dried clumps of the sample by
  hand or by stepping on them.
It turns out that a high-speed impact on a planet's surface doesn't pulverize
  all the rock on the ground below.
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