To whiten or bleach something, especially in a chemical or cosmetic context.
From Latin dealbare, from de- (completely) and albus (white). The word literally means 'to make completely white' and was used historically in chemistry and medicine.
This forgotten word shows that 'bleach' didn't always mean the chemical product—dealbate comes from the Latin root for 'white' (albus, which also gives us 'albino'), and chemists used fancy Latin verbs to describe their whitening processes.
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