To completely remove or get rid of something. It can also mean to knock someone out of a competition so they can no longer continue.
From Latin 'eliminare' meaning 'to turn out of doors, banish,' from 'e-' (out) + 'limen' (threshold, doorway). The original sense was physically sending something or someone out of the doorway. Over time, it broadened to mean removing something in any way.
Hidden inside 'eliminate' is the idea of a doorway—'limen'—so to eliminate is literally to push something out past the threshold. The brain still feels that physical image when we talk about eliminating errors or waste. We’re mentally kicking them out of the house of our plans.
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