Definitions

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

  • noun One that erases, especially an implement, such as a piece of rubber or a pad of felt, used for erasing marks made by pencil or chalk.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which erases.

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

  • noun One who, or that which, erases; esp., a sharp instrument or a piece of rubber used to erase writings, drawings, etc.

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

  • noun A thing used to erase or remove something written or drawn by a pen or a pencil.
  • noun A thing used to erase something written by chalk on a chalkboard; chalkboard eraser.
  • noun computing An overwriter program used to prevent data recovery.

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

  • noun an implement used to erase something

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to erase + -er

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word eraser.

Examples

  • For readers who want to know more: The eraser is a sculpture by Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg, who is best known for his oversize sculptures of everyday objects.

    Boing Boing 2007

  • Dumbya is like a brain eraser, if you are within 75 feet of him your IQ drops by 70 points.

    Think Progress » Hadley’s Non-Denial Denial on Forged Documents 2005

  • I try to erase Franklin but the eraser is old and brittle and just makes smudges as it crumbles.

    Excerpt: Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks 2001

  • One of the Lions 'biggest off-season needs is an "eraser" -- to borrow a term from offensive coordinator Scott Linehan -- to keep defenses from smothering wide receiver Calvin Johnson.

    Freep.com - RSS 2010

  • One of the Lions 'biggest off-season needs is an "eraser" -- to borrow a term from offensive coordinator Scott Linehan -- to keep defenses from smothering wide receiver Calvin Johnson.

    Freep.com - RSS 2010

  • The pencil calls the eraser and a pen “nincompoops.”

    2009 September 19 « One-Minute Book Reviews 2009

  • "" The eraser is our confessor, our absolver and our time machine. ''

    The Power Of Big Ideas 2008

  • It's good because it doesn't leave oil before watercoloring; Design brand kneaded eraser, which is non-abrasive and good for blending.

    Boing Boing James Gurney 2011

  • The eraser, which is not rubber but something called "factice," is "made by reacting rape-seed oil from the Dutch East Indies with sulfur chloride."

    National Review Online 2010

  • Just how huge will remain to be seen as the Lions continue to build around quarterback Matthew Stafford and find the so-called eraser -- offensive coordinator Scott Linehan's word choice -- who will take pressure off receiver Calvin Johnson.

    Freep.com - RSS 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.