To convert assets into cash, or to sell off a business's belongings to close it down.
From the Latin 'liquidus' meaning 'fluid' or 'clear,' evolving through 16th-century financial language to mean making accounts clear and settled, then extended to mean converting anything into liquid form (cash).
The word 'liquid' is hidden inside 'liquidate'—accountants used the fluid metaphor because cash flows like water, so turning everything into cash meant making it 'liquid' again.
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