dispeople

English edit

Etymology edit

Verb edit

dispeople (third-person singular simple present dispeoples, present participle dispeopling, simple past and past participle dispeopled)

(transitive) To empty of people or inhabitants.
- a. 1675, John Milton, Observations on the Articles of Peace; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume II, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 546:
  [...] the poſſeſſion of all thoſe Townes and Countries within thir now Quarters, being little leſs than the Iland, beſides what thir Cruelty hath diſpeopl'd and lay'd waſt.

Synonyms edit

depopulate

References edit

Chambers's Etymological Dictionary, 1896, p. 131