despoil
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin dēspoliō, dēspoliāre.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɪˈspɔɪl/
- Rhymes: -ɔɪl
Verb
despoil (third-person singular simple present despoils, present participle despoiling, simple past and past participle despoiled)
- (transitive) To deprive for spoil; to take spoil from; to plunder; to rob; to pillage.
- 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:
- a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled
- 2010, The Economist, 17 July, p.53:
- To dreamers in the West, Tibet is a Shangri-La despoiled by Chinese ruthlessness and rapacity.
- 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:
- (transitive) To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
- 1614, Sir Walter Raleigh, History of the World:
- The Earl of March, following the plain path which his father had trodden out, despoiled Henry the father, and Edward the son, both of their lives and kingdom.
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, 410-11:
- To intercept thy way, or send thee back / Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
- 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:
- A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled.
-
- (obsolete, transitive or reflexive) To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xij, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII:
- So syr Persants doughter dyd as her fader bad her / and soo she wente vnto syr Beaumayns bed / & pryuely she dispoylled her / & leid her doune by hym / & thenne he awoke & sawe her & asked her what she was
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xij, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII:
Related terms
Translations
To deprive for spoil; to take spoil from; to plunder; to rob;
References
- despoil in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- despoil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.