from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Destructor \De*struc"tor\, n. [L., from destruere. See
{Destroy}, and cf. {Destroyer}.]
1. A destroyer. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
Fire, the destructor and the artificial death of
things. --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
2. A furnace or oven for the burning or carbonizing of
refuse; specif. (Sewage Disposal), a furnace (called in
full
{refuse destructor}) in which the more solid constituents of
sewage are burnt. Destructors are often so constructed as
to utilize refuse as fuel.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
3. (Computers) in object-oriented programming, a function
which destroys an object which was previously created by a
different function.
[PJC]