Despoil

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To deprive for spoil; to plunder; to rob; to pillage; to
        strip; to divest; -- usually followed by of.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The clothed earth is then bare,
              Despoiled is the summer fair.         --Gower.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A law which restored to them an immense domain of
              which they had been despoiled.        --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
                                                    --Milton.
  
     Syn: To strip; deprive; rob; bereave; rifle.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  despoil \de*spoil"\, n.
     Spoil. [Obs.] --Wolsey.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  despoil
       v 1: steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people
            looted the stores that were deserted by their owners"
            [syn: {plunder}, {loot}, {reave}, {strip}, {rifle}, {ransack},
             {pillage}, {foray}]
       2: destroy and strip of its possession; "The soldiers raped the
          beautiful country" [syn: {rape}, {spoil}, {violate}, {plunder}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  159 Moby Thesaurus words for "despoil":
     abuse, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alloy, befoul, betray,
     bewitch, bleed, bleed white, blight, bring to ruin, canker,
     cheapen, coarsen, condemn, confound, consume, contaminate, corrupt,
     crucify, curse, damage, damn, deal destruction, debase, debauch,
     deceive, decimate, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denature,
     denude, deplume, deprave, depredate, desecrate, desolate, destroy,
     devalue, devastate, devour, disadvantage, displume, disserve,
     dissolve, distort, distress, divest, do a mischief, do evil,
     do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, drain, dry, engorge, envenom,
     exhaust, flay, fleece, forage, foray, force, freeboot,
     get into trouble, gobble, gobble up, gut, gut with fire, harass,
     harm, havoc, hex, hurt, impair, impoverish, incinerate, infect,
     injure, jinx, lay in ruins, lay waste, lead astray, loot, maltreat,
     maraud, menace, milk, mislead, mistreat, misuse, molest, outrage,
     persecute, pervert, pick clean, pillage, play havoc with,
     play hob with, pluck, plunder, poison, pollute, prejudice, prey on,
     prostitute, raid, ransack, rape, ravage, raven, ravish, reive,
     rifle, ruin, ruinate, sack, savage, scathe, seduce, shear,
     shipwreck, skin, soil, spoil, spoliate, strip, strip bare,
     suck dry, sully, swallow up, sweep, taint, threaten,
     throw into disorder, torment, torture, twist, ulcerate,
     unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, upheave, vandalize,
     vaporize, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, waste, wound, wrack,
     wreak havoc, wreak havoc on, wreck, wrong