defoliate
verb (specialist)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they defoliate | |
| he / she / it defoliates | |
| past simple defoliated | |
| past participle defoliated | |
| -ing form defoliating |
- defoliate something
to destroy the leaves of trees or plants, especially with chemicals （尤指用化学物质）除去…的叶 Word Originlate 18th cent.: from late Latin defoliat- ‘stripped of leaves’, from the verb defoliare, from de- (expressing removal) + folium ‘leaf’.