Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To neutralize the magnetic field of (a ship, for example).
  • transitive verb To erase information from (a magnetic disk or other storage device).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun To make a (steel) ship's hull nonmagnetic by applying an opposing magnetic field.
  • noun To remove irregular magnetization in (the electron gun of a cathode-ray tube); -- used to improve picture quality, especially in computer monitors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To reduce or eliminate a magnetic field, especially from the hull of a ship, or from a computer monitor

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make nonmagnetic; take away the magnetic properties (of)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[de– + gauss.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From de- + gauss.

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Examples

  • Computer monitors When you press "degauss" on your monitor, what does it do and how does it work?

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories 2009

  • Rodda speculated that more sophisticated gear using high frequencies to "degauss" a croc's magnetic sensors - a process similar to erasing a music tape - could be more effective, but said magnets also could do the job.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • Olbermann is the next Ed Murrow, I predicted, the way the idea-impaired CBS News brainiacs could degauss themselves of all past mistakes

    Marvin Kitman: Olbermann Rules 2008

  • Or suppose Moseley, a few years later, had not applied the new equations in his laboratory, had not discovered he could degauss the effects of cold iron and release the goetic forces -- We'd have a world dominated by fossil fuels and electricity.

    Operation Luna Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1999

  • She had toyed with the notion of going to one of the jock hackers she knew for some kind of portable induction coil simply to degauss the stolen computer's circuits; but from what she had read of its specs, she knew its shielding was up to anything a battery was likely to generate, and there was no guarantee she'd be able to tap into the computer's magical electrical source herself.

    The Silicon Mage Hambly, Barbara 1988

  • He even amused himself in gunnery practice by warning his men against low-elevation shelling over his area, because "the pixies would degauss (demagnetize) their proximity fuses".

    More Than Human Sturgeon, Theodore, 1918-1985 1953

  • Someone said, "Up forty or better on your right quadrant, corp'r'l, or the pixies'll degauss your fuses."

    More Than Human Sturgeon, Theodore, 1918-1985 1953

  • His cheeks flushed, his eyes expertly anticipating the appearance-point of each target, Hip said out of the corner of his mouth, "Up forty or better on your right quadrant, corp'r'l, or the pixies'll degauss your fuses."

    More Than Human Sturgeon, Theodore, 1918-1985 1953

  • I've read (but never confirmed) something like this to fix the screen w/o degauss.

    reddit.com: what's new online! 2010

  • Last month we looked at services that degauss and shred hard drives as the ultimate data security measure.

    InformationWeek - All Stories And Blogs 2010

Comments

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  • To disregarding the theories of Carl Friedrich Gauss.

    October 17, 2008