remove
See also: remové
English
Etymology
From Middle English removen, from Anglo-Norman remover, removeir, from Old French remouvoir, from Latin removēre, from re- + movēre (“to move”). Displaced native Old English āfierran.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹɪˈmuːv/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -uːv
Verb
remove (third-person singular simple present removes, present participle removing, simple past and past participle removed)
- (transitive) To delete.
- (transitive) To move something or someone from one place to another, especially to take away.
- He removed the marbles from the bag.
- 1560, Geneva Bible, The Geneva Bible#page/n182 Deuteronomy 19:14:
- Thou ſhalt not remoue thy neighbours marke, which thei of olde time haue ſet in thine inheritance, that thou ſhalt inherit the lãd, which the Lord thy God giueth the to poſſeſſe it.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess:
- Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
- (obsolete, formal) To replace a dish within a course.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
- But Richmond […] appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw […] that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.
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- (transitive) To murder.
- (cricket, transitive) To dismiss a batsman.
- (transitive) To discard, set aside, especially something abstract (a thought, feeling, etc.).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, page 524:
- Eternall thraldom was to her more liefe, / Then loſſe of chaſtitie, or chaunge of loue : / Dye had ſhe rather in tormenting griefe, / Then any ſhould of falſeneſſe her reproue, / Or looſeneſſe, that ſhe lightly did remoue.
- 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10:
- The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
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- (intransitive, now rare) To depart, leave.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “vj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book V:
- THenne the kynge dyd doo calle syre Gawayne / syre Borce / syr Lyonel and syre Bedewere / and commaunded them to goo strayte to syre Lucius / and saye ye to hym that hastely he remeue oute of my land / And yf he wil not / bydde hym make hym redy to bataylle and not distresse the poure peple
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
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- (intransitive, archaic) To change one's residence or place of business; to move.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:
- Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane.
- 1719 April 25, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407:
- Now my life began to be so easy that I began to say to myself that could I but have been safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived.
- 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska 1987, p.20:
- Shortly after this, my father removed, and settled in the same county, about ten miles above Greenville.
- 1886, Lim, Hiong Seng, Handbook of the Swatow Vernacular, Singapore: Koh Yew Hean Press:
- I am going to remove. / Where are you going to remove to? / I don't know yet. / When will you know?
- 1925, W. K. & Co., “How to Avoid a Controversy Over Fixtures Between Landlord and Tenant”, in American Independent Baker: Official Organ of the Retail Bakers, volume 23, page 20:
- About a year ago we removed to the above address, which we leased on a five-year lease with privilege of cancellation in one year.
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- To dismiss or discharge from office.
- The President removed many postmasters.
Conjugation
Conjugation of remove
| infinitive | (to) remove | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | remove | removed | |
| 2nd-person singular | |||
| 3rd-person singular | removes | ||
| plural | remove | ||
| subjunctive | remove | removed | |
| imperative | remove | — | |
| participles | removing | removed | |
Synonyms
- unstay
Antonyms
- (move something from one place to another): settle, place, add
Derived terms
- removable
- removal
- removalist
- remover
Translations
to delete — see delete
to take away
|
to murder someone
|
to discard, set aside
|
to change one's residence
|
to dismiss or discharge from office — see dismiss, discharge
Noun
remove (plural removes)
- The act of removing something.
- [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316:
- This place should be at once both school and university, not needing a remove to any other house of scholarship.
- 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], OCLC 1205185272:
- And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
- 1761, John Mordant, The Complete Steward:
- There is no tree admits of transplantation so well as the Elm, for a tree of twenty years growth will admit of a remove.
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- (cooking, now chiefly historical) A dish served to replace an earlier one during a meal; a part of a new course.
- 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Oxford 2009, p. 16:
- A supper brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, almost equalling in removes the dinner.
- 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Oxford 2009, p. 16:
- (Britain) (at some public schools) A division of the school, especially the form prior to last
- A step or gradation (as in the phrase "at one remove")
- 1716 January 3 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 1. Friday, December 23. 1715.”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, OCLC 1056445272:
- A freeholder is but one remove from a legislator.
- 1970, Yuri Rytkheu, Сон в начале тумана [A Dream in Polar Fog]:
- Toko returned to the men, sitting at a remove.
- 2007, James D. McCallister, King's Highway, page 162:
- In his unfortunate absence at this far remove of 2007, Zevon's musicianship and irascible wit are as missed as ever.
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- Distance in time or space; interval.
- (figurative, by extension) Emotional distance or indifference.
- (dated) The transfer of one's home or business to another place; a move.
- 1855, John Henry Newman, Callista
- It is an English proverb that three removes are as bad as a fire.
- 1855, John Henry Newman, Callista
- The act of resetting a horse's shoe.
- 1731 (date written, published 1745), Jonathan Swift, “Directions to Servants”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], volume XVI, new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, OCLC 1184656746:
- His horse wanted two removes; your horse wanted nails
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References
- OED 2nd edition 1989
- remove at OneLook Dictionary Search
Latin
Verb
removē
- second-person singular present active imperative of removeō
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔvi
Verb
remove
- inflection of remover:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative