pillage
English edit
Etymology edit
From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
pillage (third-person singular simple present pillages, present participle pillaging, simple past and past participle pillaged)
- (transitive, intransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
- 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,
- Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.
- 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,
Translations edit
loot or plunder by force
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Noun edit
pillage (countable and uncountable, plural pillages)
- The spoils of war.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Which pillage they with merry march bring home.
- The act of pillaging.
- 2013, Zoë Marriage, Formal Peace and Informal War: Security and Development in Congo:
- An employee at a brewery in Kinshasa rated the aftermath as more catastrophic to the company than the direct violence: It was more the consequences of the pillages that hit Bracongo – the poverty of the people, our friends who buy beer.
Synonyms edit
- (spoils of war): See Thesaurus:booty
Translations edit
the spoils of war
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the act of pillaging
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French edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pillage m (plural pillages)
Further reading edit
- “pillage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norman edit
Etymology edit
From Old French pillage.
Noun edit
pillage m (plural pillages)
Related terms edit
- pilleux (“looter”)
Old French edit
Noun edit
pillage oblique singular, m (oblique plural pillages, nominative singular pillages, nominative plural pillage)
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- → English: pillage