obliterationn.

a1527 W. Peeris Prov. in Anglia (1892) 14 479 If thou pric a songe make no obliteracione But se thy margent be clene withoute contamynacion.

1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Obliteration, a blotting out, a cancelling or abolishing.

1670 in Coll. Scarce & Valuable Tracts l. 30 This..is of so odious a Condition, as pity it is, there cannot be a total Obliteration of it.

1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 96 Cause, from being the name of a particular object, has become, in consequence of the obliteration of that original signification, a remarkable abbreviation in language.

1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 223 The examination of almost all valleys in mountainous districts affords abundant proofs of the obliteration of a series of lakes.

1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. xi. 140 Winter..advanced in..well-marked stages as the following:—... A rising of fogs. The embrowning by frost. The collapse of the fungi. An obliteration by snow.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 830/2 Reasons of practical convenience have necessarily favoured the substantial obliteration of state lines as to the enforcement of statutory private rights.

1943 Mind 52 61 From no sort of correlation between space-measures and time-measures can the obliteration of the ontological distinction between space and time be validly inferred.

1981 C. Priest Affirmation xiv. 124 Because it is unconsciousness, the obliteration of all physical and mental processes, the memory dies with the body.

1651 W. Leach Propositions 7 Every such person or persons..shall deliver the same Bills, Bonds, &c. safe and uncancelled, without tearing, blotting, obliteration or alteration, and such Goods and Chattels well and unbroken.

1795 J. B. Bird Laws Respecting Wills, Test. & Codicils i. 34 A will may be also revoked in part only, by a partial obliteration of particular bequests, whilst the rest of the will remains.

1884 Rep. Court of Appeals Maryland 61 503 With respect to the competency of the testator to make revocation of a devise by the simple erasure or obliteration of the name of the devisee, I can entertain no doubt whatever.

1923 Federal Reporter 288 835 The alteration consisted in the obliteration of the name of the registered holder and of a numeral in the serial number of the bond.

1966 H. J. B. Cockshutt & A. G. Coates Gibson's Probate (ed. 17) iv. 49 If, however, there is not merely an obliteration, but the substitution of another name or of a different amount, so that it is clear that the intention of the testator was to alter the gift and not to revoke it entirely, the doctrine of dependent relative revocation applies.

1981 C. E. Torcia Wharton's Criminal Law iv. 126 An erasure or obliteration which does not destroy an instrument, but merely changes its nature or import, constitutes forgery.

1881 Philatelic Rec. 2 166 I find the circular obliteration on a green Britannia, with date attached..on all the green Britannias handstamped ‘fourpence’ that I have met with.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 191/1 The change of colour from black was made in order to render the obliteration (now in black instead of red ink) more distinct.

1942 Stanley Gibbons' Priced Catal. Postage Stamps (ed. 48) i. 3 Maltese Cross obliterations in other colours are rare.

1983 J. Holman S. Phillips' Stamp Collecting (rev. ed.) xi. 94 A postmark is any mark struck on mail passing through the post. A mark employed for defacing stamps on mail is more properly termed an obliteration.