Extirpate

extirpate \EK-stur-payt\, transitive verb:
1. To pull up by the stem or root.
2. To destroy completely.
3. To remove by surgery.

A plant growing where it shouldn't is a weed. An object for which you have no need or sentimental attachment is garbage. Extirpate the one, toss the other.
-- Philip Kennicott, "The Symphony's Misbegotten 'Moon'", Washington Post, January 14, 2000