ablate — ONAD

ablate /əˈblāt, əˈbleɪt

▸ verb [with object]

1 remove (body tissue) surgically:

therapeutic intervention to ablate existing cancer cells.

2 gradually remove material from or erode (a surface or object) by melting, evaporation, frictional action, etc., or erode (material) in this way:

drying winds slowly ablate away the ice

the laser beam can ablate solid rock from seven metres away.

– ORIGIN late 15th century (in the general sense ‘take away, remove’): from Latin ablat- ‘taken away’ (see ablation).