vt to make sterile or unproductive; to impoverish, as land; to exhaust of fertility.
2. sterilize ·vt to deprive of the power of reproducing; to render incapable of germination or fecundation; to make sterile.
3. sterilize ·vt to destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.