depopulator


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de·pop·u·late

 (dē-pŏp′yə-lāt′)
tr.v. de·pop·u·lat·ed, de·pop·u·lat·ing, de·pop·u·lates
To reduce sharply the population of, as by disease, war, or forcible relocation.

[Latin dēpopulāri, dēpopulāt-, to lay waste : dē-, de- + populārī, to ravage (from populus, people, throng).]

de·pop′u·la′tion n.
de·pop′u·la′tor n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

depopulator

(diːˈpɒpjʊˌleɪtə)
n
(Sociology) a thing that causes a decrease in population
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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References in periodicals archive ?
According to a press release, the patent-pending system "efficiently and safely recovers reusable parts and metals from discarded circuit boards." Jim Moltion, president of Northeast, says the "depopulator" system removes more than 300,000 parts during a normal 40-hour workweek using one operator.
There is, furthermore, a supreme irony in the timing of their enclosure proposal: as recently as March 1631, the commissioners for charitable uses had suggested that the rebuilding of St Paul's cathedral might itself be financed from fines on enclosers and depopulators.(51)