Disinfect, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Disinfected; p. pr. & vb. n. Disinfecting.]
To free from infectious or contagious matter; to destroy putrefaction; to purify; to make innocuous. When the infectious matter and the infectious matter and the odoriferous matter are one . . . then to deodorize is to disinfect. Ure.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for disinfect; he lists it under cleanse.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.