Deleter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A device or program that erases or removes data from a storage medium ; a person who strikes out, cuts, or takes away written or recorded material
2. A utility that wipes stored information from a computer or disk ; someone who eliminates text, files, or entries from a document or record
3. Software or an instrument that clears data from memory ; an individual who removes or erases words, files, or items from something

Etymology: The word "deleter" is about as transparent as English compounds get: it is simply "delete" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, so it means "one that deletes." The verb "delete" came into English from Latin "delere," meaning "to destroy" or "to wipe out," a sense that survives in its modern computing use, where a program erases data instead of destroying a physical object. The suffix does most of the work here. The "-er" ending descends from Old English "-ere," which was used to form names for people or things that perform an action, and it reached English through a long chain of Latin and French forms. Its pattern is so productive that new "-er" nouns can be coined on the spot, as "deleter" was from the verb.

Synonyms: eraser, remover

Antonyms: inserter