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Definition of pillage - 5 dictionary results

pil⋅lage

  [pil-ij] verb, -laged, -lag⋅ing, noun
Use pillage in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence, as in war; plunder: The barbarians pillaged every conquered city.
2. to take as booty.
–verb (used without object)
3. to rob with open violence; take booty: Soldiers roamed the countryside, pillaging and killing.
–noun
4. the act of plundering, esp. in war.
5. booty or spoil.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME pilage (see pill 3 , -age ), modeled on MF pillage (deriv. of piller to pillage, orig., to abuse, mistreat, tear, of uncert. orig.)

Related forms:
pil⋅lag⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. rob, sack, spoil, despoil, rape. 4. rapine, depredation, spoliation. 5. plunder.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pillage
pil·lage   (pĭl'ĭj)   
v.   pil·laged, pil·lag·ing, pil·lag·es

v.   tr.

  1. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.

  2. To take as spoils.

v.   intr.
To take spoils by force.
n.  

  1. The act of pillaging.

  2. Something pillaged; spoils.


[From Middle English, booty, from Old French, from piller, to plunder, from peille, rag (probably from Latin pilleus, pīleus, felt cap) or from Vulgar Latin *pīliāre.]
pil'lag·er 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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Slang Dictionary
pillage

  1. tv.
    to eat a meal, perhaps by raiding a refrigerator. (Perhaps voraciously.) : Let's go pillage Tom's fridge. I'm hungarian.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

pillage 
1390, "act of plundering" (especially in war), from O.Fr. pillage (n.) "plunder," from piller "to plunder," possibly from V.L. *piliare "to plunder," probably from a fig. use of L. pilare "to strip of hair," perhaps also meaning "to skin" (cf. fig. extension of verbs pluck, fleece). The verb is first recorded c.1592.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: pil·lage
Pronunciation: 'pi-lij
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: pil·laged; pil·lag·ing
transitive verb : to loot or plunder esp. in war intransitive verb : to take booty —pillage noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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