remove Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun degree of figurative distance or separation;
- just one remove from madness" or "it imitates at many removes a Shakespearean tragedy
verb remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract
withdraw; take away; take.
- remove a threat
- remove a wrapper
- Remove the dirty dishes from the table
- take the gun from your pocket
- This machine withdraws heat from the environment
verb remove from a position or an office
verb dispose of
get rid of.
- Get rid of these old shoes!
- The company got rid of all the dead wood
verb cause to leave
take out; move out.
- The teacher took the children out of the classroom
verb shift the position or location of, as for business, legal, educational, or military purposes
transfer.
- He removed his children to the countryside
- Remove the troops to the forest surrounding the city
- remove a case to another court
verb go away or leave
absent.
- He absented himself
verb kill intentionally and with premeditation
murder; off; slay; dispatch; hit; bump off; polish off.
- The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered
verb get rid of something abstract
take away.
- The death of her mother removed the last obstacle to their marriage
- God takes away your sins

OF. removoir, remouvoir, L. removere, remotum; pref. re- re- + movere to move. See Move.

imperfect & past participle Removed present participle & verbal noun Removing

To move away from the position occupied; to cause to change place; to displace; as, to remove a building.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark. Deut. xix. 14.

When we had dined, to prevent the ladies' leaving us, I generally ordered the table to be removed. Goldsmith.
To cause to leave a person or thing; to cause to cease to be; to take away; hence, to banish; to destroy; to put an end to; to kill; as, to remove a disease. "King Richard thus removed." Shak.
To dismiss or discharge from office; as, the President removed many postmasters. ✍ See the Note under Remove, v. i.

To change place in any manner, or to make a change in place; to move or go from one residence, position, or place to another.
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I can not taint with fear. Shak.
✍ The verb remove, in some of its application, is synonymous with move, but not in all. Thus we do not apply remove to a mere change of posture, without a change of place or the seat of a thing. A man moves his head when he turns it, or his finger when he bends it, but he does not remove it. Remove usually or always denotes a change of place in a body, but we never apply it to a regular, continued course or motion. We never say the wind or water, or a ship, removes at a certain rate by the hour; but we say a ship was removed from one place in a harbor to another. Move is a generic term, including the sense of remove, which is more generally applied to a change from one station or permanent position, stand, or seat, to another station.

The act of removing; a removal.
This place should be at once both school and university, not needing a remove to any other house of scholarship. Milton.

And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. Goldsmith.
The transfer of one's business, or of one's domestic belongings, from one location or dwelling house to another; -- in the United States usually called a move.
It is an English proverb that three removes are as bad as a fire. J. H. Newman.
The state of being removed. Locke.
That which is removed, as a dish removed from table to make room for something else.
The distance or space through which anything is removed; interval; distance; stage; hence, a step or degree in any scale of gradation; specifically, a division in an English public school; as, the boy went up two removes last year.
A freeholder is but one remove from a legislator. Addison.
(Far.) The act of resetting a horse's shoe. Swift.