Noah Webster
Exonerate
EXON'ERATE, verb transitive egzon'erate. [Latin exonero; ex and onero, to load, onus, a load.]
1. To unload; to disburden.
The vessels exonerate themselves into a common duct.
But more generally, in a figurative sense.
2. To cast off, as a charge or as blame resting on one; to clear of something that lies upon the character as an imputation; as, to exonerate one's self from blame, or from the charge of avarice.
3. To cast off, as an obligation, debt or duty; to discharge of responsibility or liability; as, a surety exonerates himself by producing a man in court.