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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



13 words match “DESPOIL”

DESPOIL v. 3 definitions
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.
DESPOILER n.
One who despoils.
DESPOILMENT n.
Despoliation. [R.]
DE- n.
It is negative and opposite in derange, deform, destroy, etc. It is intensive in deprave, despoil, declare, desolate, etc.
DEPREDATE v.
To subject to plunder and pillage; to despoil; to lay waste; to prey upon. It makes the substance of the body . . . less apt to be consumed and depredated by the spirits. Bacon.
DEPREDATION n.
The act of depredating, or the state of being depredated; the act of despoiling or making inroads; as, the sea often makes depredation on the land.
DIREPTION n.
The act of plundering, despoiling, or snatching away. [R.] Speed.
DISCOMFIT n.
Rout; overthrow; discomfiture. Such as discomfort as shall quite despoil him. Milton.
GO v.
or a tedious illness. (c) To spend completely; to exhaust, as a fortune. (d) To strip or despoil (one) of his property. [Slang]
PREY v.
e kites and buzzards prey at liberty. Shak. To prey on or upon. (a) To take prey from; to despoil; to pillage; to rob. Shak. (b) To seize as prey; to take for food by violence; to seize and devour. Shak. (c) To wear away gradually; to cause to waste or pine away; as, the trouble preyed upon his mind. Addison.…
REAVE v.
To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. "To reave his life." Spenser. He golden apples raft of the dragon. Chaucer. By privy stratagem my life at home. Chapman. To reave the orphan of his patrimony. Shak. The heaven caught and reft him of his tongue. Tennyson.…
SPOILER n.
One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.
SPOLIATE v.
To plunder; to pillage; to despoil; to rob.