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Webster 1913 Edition


Pillage

Pil′lage

,
Noun.
[F., fr.
piller
to plunder. See
Pill
to plunder.]
1.
The act of pillaging; robbery.
Shak.
2.
That which is taken from another or others by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war; plunder; spoil; booty.
Which
pillage
they with merry march bring home.
Shakespeare
Syn. – Plunder; rapine; spoil; depredation.
–
Pillage
,
Plunder
. Pillage refers particularly to the act of stripping the sufferers of their goods, while plunder refers to the removal of the things thus taken; but the words are freely interchanged.

Pil′lage

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pillaged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pillaging
.]
To strip of money or goods by open violence; to plunder; to spoil; to lay waste;
as, to
pillage
the camp of an enemy
.
Mummius . . . took,
pillaged
, and burnt their city.
Arbuthnot.

Pil′lage

,
Verb.
I.
To take spoil; to plunder; to ravage.
They were suffered to
pillage
wherever they went.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Pillage

PILL'AGE

, n.
1.
Plunder; spoil; that which is taken from another by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war.
2.
The act of plundering.
3.
In architecture, a square pillar behind a column to bear up the arches.

PILL'AGE

,
Verb.
T.
To strip of money or goods by open violence; as, troops pillage the camp or towns of an enemy; to plunder; to spoil. It differs from stealing, as it implies open violence,and from robbery, which may be committed by one individual on another; whereas pillaging is usually the act of bands or numbers. To pillage and to rob are however sometimes used synonymously.