pillage
English
WOTD – 16 August 2008
Etymology
From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɪl.ɪdʒ/, /ˈpɪl.ədʒ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪlədʒ
Verb
pillage (third-person singular simple present pillages, present participle pillaging, simple past and past participle pillaged)
- (transitive, intransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
- 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,
- Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.
- 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,
Translations
loot or plunder by force
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Noun
pillage (countable and uncountable, plural pillages)
- The spoils of war.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
- Which pillage they with merry march bring home.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
- The act of pillaging.
- 2013, Zoë Marriage, Formal Peace and Informal War: Security and Development in Congo
- An employee at a brewery in Kinshasa rated the aftermath as more catastrophic to the company than the direct violence: It was more the consequences of the pillages that hit Bracongo – the poverty of the people, our friends who buy beer.
- 2013, Zoë Marriage, Formal Peace and Informal War: Security and Development in Congo
Synonyms
- (spoils of war): See Thesaurus:booty
Translations
the spoils of war
the act of pillaging
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French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pi.jaʒ/
Norman
Etymology
From Old French pillage.
Old French
Related terms
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