ESTRANGE

v.

3 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
v.

To withdraw; to withhold; hence, reflexively, to keep at a distance; to cease to be familiar and friendly with. We must estrange our belief from everything which is not clearly and distinctly evidenced. Glanvill. Had we . . . estranged ourselves from them in things indifferent. Hooker.

2.
v.

To divert from its original use or purpose, or from its former possessor; to alienate. They . . . have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods. Jer. xix. 4.

3.
v.

To alienate the affections or confidence of; to turn from attachment to enmity or indifference. I do not know, to this hour, what it is that has estranged him from me. Pope. He . . . had pretended to be estranged from the Whigs, and had promised to act as a spy upon them. Macaulay.