detoxify

• de-toxify

Attested since 1905 (twelve years earlier than toxify), from de- +‎ tox- +‎ -ify. (Detoxicate is attested one year earlier, since 1904.)

detoxify (third-person singular simple present detoxifies, present participle detoxifying, simple past and past participle detoxified)

1. To remove foreign and harmful substances from something.
   • 1907, John Howland, “Some possible etiological factors in the recurrent vomiting of children”, in Transactions of the American Pediatric Society, volume 18, page 295:

     As a result of this, in some way or other, unknown to us, a diminished power of oxidation results and the organism loses the power to detoxify substances absorbed from the intestine which have been present there in excess; these circulate in the blood, exerting their poisonous action and cannot be excreted by the kidneys because they are not brought to them in the proper form.

• detoxicate

• detoxifiable
• detoxification
• detoxifier