Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - oxidize

 verb  (-dized; -dizing)  Date: 1806  transitive verb  1. to combine with oxygen  2. to dehydrogenate especially by the action of oxygen  3. to change (a compound) by increasing the proportion of the electronegative part or change (an element or ion) from a lower to a higher positive valence ; remove one or more electrons from (an atom, ion, or molecule)  intransitive verb to become ~d  • oxidizable adjective