despoil Meaning, Definition & Usage
-
verb steal goods; take as spoils
pillage; strip; plunder; foray; rifle; loot; reave; ransack.
- During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners
-
verb destroy and strip of its possession
plunder; violate; spoil; rape.
- The soldiers raped the beautiful country
WordNet
De*spoil" transitive verb
Etymology
OF.Wordforms
Definitions
-
To strip, as of clothing; to divest or unclothe. Obs. Chaucer. -
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.
De*spoil" noun
Definitions
Spoil. Obs. Wolsey.