depose

Verb

depose (third-person singular simple present deposes, present participle deposing, simple past and past participle deposed)

1. (literally, transitive) To put down; to lay down; to deposit; to lay aside; to put away.
   • additional mud deposed upon it1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC
2. (transitive) To remove (a leader) from (high) office without killing (them).
   • A deposed monarch may go into exile as pretender to the lost throne, hoping to be restored in a subsequent revolution.
   • a tyrant over his subjects, and therefore worthy to be deposed1643, William Prynne, “(please specify |part=1 to 4, or Appendix)”, in The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes: […], London: […] Michael Sparke Senior, →OCLC
3. (intransitive) To give evidence or testimony, especially in response to interrogation during a deposition.
4. (transitive) To interrogate and elicit testimony from during a deposition, typically by a lawyer.
   • After we deposed the claimant we had enough evidence to avoid a trial.
   • Depose him in the justice of his cause.1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
5. (intransitive) To take or swear an oath.
6. To testify; to bear witness; to claim; to assert; to affirm.
   • to depose the yearly rent or valuation of landsc. 1598, Francis Bacon, The Office of Compositions for Alienations