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expel - 4 dictionary results

ex⋅pel

  [ik-spel]
Use expel in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -pelled, -pel⋅ling.
1. to drive or force out or away; discharge or eject: to expel air from the lungs; to expel an invader from a country.
2. to cut off from membership or relations: to expel a student from a college.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME expellen < L expellere to drive out, drive away, equiv. to ex- ex- 1 + pellere to push, drive

Related forms:
ex⋅pel⋅la⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
2. oust, dismiss, exile, excommunicate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To expel
ex·pel   (ĭk-spěl')   
tr.v.   ex·pelled, ex·pel·ling, ex·pels
  1. To force or drive out: expel an invader.
  2. To discharge from or as if from a receptacle: expelled a sigh of relief.
  3. To force to leave; deprive of membership: expelled the student from college for cheating. See Synonyms at eject.

[Middle English expellen, from Latin expellere : ex-, ex- + pellere, to drive; see pel-5 in Indo-European roots.]
ex·pel'la·ble adj., ex·pel'ler 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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Expel

Ex*pel"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Expelled, p. pr. & vb. n.. Expelling.] [L. expellere, expulsum; ex out + pellere to drive: cf.F. expeller. See Pulse a beat.]

1. To drive or force out from that within which anything is contained, inclosed, or situated; to eject; as to expel air from a bellows.

Did not ye . . . expel me out of my father's house? --Judg. xi. 7.

2. To drive away from one's country; to banish.

Forewasted all their land, and them expelled. --Spenser. .

He shall expel them from before you . . . and ye shall possess their land. --Josh. xxiii. 5.

3. To cut off from further connection with an institution of learning, a society, and the like; as, to expel a student or member.

4. To keep out, off, or away; to exclude. "To expel the winter's flaw." --Shak.

5. To discharge; to shoot. [Obs.]

Then he another and another [shaft] did expel. --Spenser. .

Syn: To banish; exile; eject; drive out. See Banish.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : expel
Spanish: expulsar,
German: ausweisen,
Japanese: 追い出す
More Translations »

expel 
c.1386, from L. expellere "drive out," from ex- "out" + pellere "to drive." Meaning "to eject from a school" is first recorded 1648.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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