colonize

Verb

colonize (third-person singular simple present colonizes, present participle colonizing, simple past and past participle colonized)

1. (transitive) To settle (a place) with colonists, and hence make (a place) into a colony.
   • When you are colonized by dangerous bacteria their presence in your body does no damage. You become a reservoir for those little stinkers.2011, Steven Z. Kussin, Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now, page 241
2. (transitive) To settle among and establish control over (the indigenous people of an area).
   • The administration finally sent a naval vessel to return the 368 survivors to the United States in 1864. This ended official efforts to colonize blacks.1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 509
3. (intransitive) To begin a colony or colonies.
4. (broadly, transitive) To intrude into and take over (the autonomy, experience, social movement, etc, of a less powerful person or group); to commandeer or appropriate.
   • What disservice would be done if issues regarding sexualities in organisations were side-lined by a heteronormative impetus to colonise queer theory?2011, Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies, →ISBN
   • For slavery aimed not only to colonize black women's bodies, sex, and sexuality, to undermine her, it sought to subvert and destroy any authentic relationship between black women and black men as well as among black women themselves.2015, Kwok Pui-Lan, Laura E. Donaldson, Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Discourse, →ISBN