despoil
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Old French despoiller ( > French dépouiller), from Latin dēspoliō.
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
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.
- 2010, The Economist, 17 Jul 2010, p. 53:
- To dreamers in the West, Tibet is a Shangri-La despoiled by Chinese ruthlessness and rapacity.
- 2010, The Economist, 17 Jul 2010, p. 53:
- (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.
- 1614, Sir Walter Raleigh, History of the World
- (obsolete, transitive or reflexive) To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VI:
- So Sir Persauntis doughter dud as her fadir bade hir, and so she yode unto Sir Bewmaynes bed and pryvyly she dispoyled hir and leyde hir downe by hym.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VI:
Translations [edit]
To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
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Related terms [edit]
Noun [edit]
despoil (plural despoils)
References [edit]
- despoil in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- despoil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
