1. To dry up; to preserve by drying or depriving of moisture; especially, to dry completely: The surgeon removed a suspect mole and thoroughly desiccated the tissue around that area with a needle electrode.
2. To preserve food by drying or dehydrating it: While baking a cake, Elizabeth used a cup of desiccated coconut.

It is a common practice to desiccate apricots.

3. Etymology: from Latin desiccare, "to dry up".