Pulverised, Little Hawk comes straight from Latin - "pulvus" meaning "a powder". These days it appears sometimes on doctors' prescriptions abbreviated as "pulv.". If you ever go into an old-fashioned pharmacy and look at the rows of drug jars, you may see quite a few with labels such as "Pulv. Ipecac." All it means is "Ipecacuahna Powder". Doctors and pharmacists used - and still use - Latin, partly because it was the international scientific language once upon a time and these days to preserve the medical mystique and cover up how little they really know. (I'm a pharmacist so I can say these things...).

Hence "pulverise" - to shatter something or make it into a powder.

There. Can I have the award for the most boring post yet, please?