efface

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

1. (transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.
   • Do not efface what I've written on the chalkboard.
   • An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15

   Synonyms:

   rub out

2. (transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.
   • Some people like to efface their own memories with alcohol.
   • The bright records of the last hour effaced all the darker traces left by long and weary days.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 254
3. (intransitive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.
   • Many people seem shy, but they really just efface for meekness.
4. (intransitive) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.
5. (intransitive) Of a woman: to have the cervix thin and stretch in this manner.
   • Some females efface 75% by the 39th week of pregnancy.