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despoil - 5 dictionary results

de⋅spoil

  [di-spoil]
Use despoil in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
to strip of possessions, things of value, etc.; rob; plunder; pillage.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME despoilen < OF despoillier < L dēspoliāre to strip, rob, plunder, equiv. to dē- de- + spoliāre to plunder; see spoil

Related forms:
de⋅spoil⋅er, noun
de⋅spoil⋅ment, noun

Synonyms:
dispossess, divest; rifle, sack; fleece.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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de·spoil   (dĭ-spoil')   
tr.v.   de·spoiled, de·spoil·ing, de·spoils
  1. To sack; plunder.
  2. To deprive of something valuable by force; rob: a region despoiled of its scenic beauty by unchecked development.

[Middle English despoilen, from Old French despoillier, from Latin dēspoliāre : dē-, de- + spoliāre, to plunder (from spolium, booty).]
de·spoil'er n., de·spoil'ment n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Despoil

De*spoil"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Despoiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Despoiling.] [OF. despoiller, F. d['e]pouiller, L. despoliare, despoliatum; de- + spoliare to strip, rob, spolium spoil, booty. Cf. Spoil, Despoliation.]

1. To strip, as of clothing; to divest or unclothe. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. To deprive for spoil; to plunder; to rob; to pillage; to strip; to divest; -- usually followed by of.

The clothed earth is then bare, Despoiled is the summer fair. --Gower.

A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled. --Macaulay.

Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss. --Milton.

Syn: To strip; deprive; rob; bereave; rifle.

Despoil

De*spoil"\, n. Spoil. [Obs.] --Wolsey.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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despoil 
1297, from O.Fr. despoillier, from L. despoliare, from de- "entirely" + spoliare "to strip of clothing, rob," from spolium "armor, booty" (see spoil).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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