To remove or neutralize a magnetic field, especially from electronic equipment or metal objects.
From de- (remove) + gauss (unit of magnetic induction, named after mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1833). The term emerged in the 20th century with electromagnetic technology.
Old computer monitors had degauss buttons that you'd click when colors looked wrong—the Earth's magnetic field was actually distorting the electron beam inside, and degaussing reset the magnetic coils to cancel out that interference.
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