despoil
/dɪˈspɔɪl/
despoil verb: to plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
Verb
despoil (third-person singular simple present despoils, present participle despoiling, simple past and past participle despoiled)
- To plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
- [T]here vvas brought unto him an horſe named Babylonius, vvhich happening to be ſore vexed vvith a ſuddaine gripe or vvring in his belly, fell dovvne, and vvhiles hee vvas not able to endure the paine, vvallovveth along, and happeneth to beſprent his capariſon and ornaments richly garniſhed vvith...1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, “[The XXIII. Booke.] Chapter II. Being Departed out of Antioch, He was Troubled and Haunted with Strange Signes and Dreames: But afterwards Comforted againe by Sundrie...
- a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
- The Earl of March, following the plain path which his father had trodden out, despoiled Henry the father, and Edward the son, both of their lives and kingdom.1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)
- To intercept thy way, or send thee back / Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.
- So syr Persants doughter dyd as her fader bad her / and soo she wente vnto syr Beaumayns bed / & pryuely she dispoylled her / & leid her doune by hym / & thenne he awoke & sawe her & asked her what she was1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII
Noun
despoil (countable and uncountable, plural despoils)
- Plunder; spoliation.
- ’Tis done;—despoil and desolation / O’er Rylstone’s fair domain have blown; […]1815, William Wordsworth, “Canto Seventh”, in The White Doe of Rylstone; or The Fate of the Nortons. A Poem, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co....
despoil meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
despoil in Tamil
- திருடு
despoil in Urdu
- چھین لینا, غارت زنی کرنا, لوٹ لینا
despoil in Malayalam
- pillage, plunder, rob
- കവർന്നെടുക്കുക, കൊള്ളയടിക്കുക, കൊള്ളയിടുക, കുത്തിവാരുക, കുത്തിക്കവരുക, സർവ്വസ്വവും അപഹരിക്കുക
- strip, rob, deprive
- കൊള്ളയടിക്കുക, കവരുക, കവർന്നെടുക്കുക, മോഷ്ടിക്കുക, പിടിച്ചുപറിക്കുക, അപഹരിക്കുക
despoil in Kannada
- ಕೊಳ್ಳೆಹೊಡೆ, ದೋಚು, ಲೂಟಿಮಾಡು, ಕೊಳ್ಳೆಹೊಡಿ, ಅಪಹರಿಸು, ಎತ್ತಿಹಾಕು
Examples of despoil in a sentence
- Ripton was familiar with the rod, a monster much despoiled of his terrors by intimacy.1859, George Meredith, chapter V, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to...
- The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind.2003, Owaku, Hiroyuki and trans. Blaustein, Jeremy, et al., quoting Claudia Wolf, Silent Hill 3, Tokyo: Konami, PlayStation 2; PC:
- To dreamers in the West, Tibet is a Shangri-La despoiled by Chinese ruthlessness and rapacity.2010 July 17, The Economist, page 53:
- A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify...
Forms of despoil
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | despoils |
| present participle | despoiling |
| past participle | despoiled |
| past | despoiled |
| Noun | |
| plural | despoils |
Origin of despoil
From Middle English despoylen, dispoylen, from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin dēspoliō, dēspoliāre.
From Middle English despoylle, dispoyll, from Old French despoille, despueille, deverbal from despoillier.
Words formed from despoil
Words that rhyme with despoil
Questions about despoil
- What does despoil mean?
- Despoil means to plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
- What is despoil in Tamil?
- Despoil in Tamil is திருடு. See Despoil meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use despoil in a sentence?
- Ripton was familiar with the rod, a monster much despoiled of his terrors by intimacy.
- What part of speech is despoil?
- Despoil can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce despoil?
- Despoil is pronounced /dɪˈspɔɪl/.
- What is the past tense of despoil?
- The past tense of despoil is despoiled.
Words near despoil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: despoil (page history and authors); despoil (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despoil (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); despoil (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); despoil (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-despoil.wav.
Cite this entry: “despoil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/despoil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.