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Webster 1913 Edition

Remove

Re-move′

(r?-m??v′)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Removed
(-m??vd′)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Removing
.]
[OF.
removoir
,
remouvoir
, L.
removere
,
remotum
; pref.
re-
re- +
movere
to move. See
Move
.]
1.
To move away from the position occupied; to cause to change place; to displace;
as, to
remove
a building
.
Thou shalt not
remove
thy neighbor’s landmark.
Deut. xix. 14.
When we had dined, to prevent the ladies' leaving us, I generally ordered the table to be
removed
.
Goldsmith.
2.
To cause to leave a person or thing; to cause to cease to be; to take away; hence, to banish; to destroy; to put an end to; to kill;
as, to
remove
a disease
.
“King Richard thus removed.”
Shak.
3.
To dismiss or discharge from office;
as, the President
removed
many postmasters
.
☞ See the Note under
Remove
,
Verb.
I.

Re-move′

(r?-m??v′)
,
Verb.
I.
To change place in any manner, or to make a change in place; to move or go from one residence, position, or place to another.
Till Birnam wood
remove
to Dunsinane,
I can not taint with fear.
Shakespeare
☞ The verb remove, in some of its application, is synonymous with move, but not in all. Thus we do not apply remove to a mere change of posture, without a change of place or the seat of a thing. A man moves his head when he turns it, or his finger when he bends it, but he does not remove it. Remove usually or always denotes a change of place in a body, but we never apply it to a regular, continued course or motion. We never say the wind or water, or a ship, removes at a certain rate by the hour; but we say a ship was removed from one place in a harbor to another. Move is a generic term, including the sense of remove, which is more generally applied to a change from one station or permanent position, stand, or seat, to another station.

Re-move′

,
Noun.
1.
The act of removing; a removal.
This place should be at once both school and university, not needing a
remove
to any other house of scholarship.
Milton.
And drags at each
remove
a lengthening chain.
Goldsmith.
2.
The transfer of one's business, or of one's domestic belongings, from one location or dwelling house to another; – in the United States usually called a move.
It is an English proverb that three
removes
are as bad as a fire.
J. H. Newman.
3.
The state of being removed.
Locke.
4.
That which is removed, as a dish removed from table to make room for something else.
5.
The distance or space through which anything is removed; interval; distance; stage; hence, a step or degree in any scale of gradation; specifically, a division in an English public school;
as, the boy went up two
removes
last year
.
A freeholder is but one
remove
from a legislator.
Addison.
6.
(Far.)
The act of resetting a horse's shoe.
Swift.

Webster 1828 Edition

Remove

REMOVE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. removeo; re and moveo, to move.]
1.
To cause to change place; to put from its place in any manner; as, to remove a building.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark. Deut. 19.
2.
To displace from an office.
3.
To take or put away in any manner; to cause to leave a person or thing; to banish or destroy; as, to remove a disease or complaint.
Remove sorrow from thine heart. Eccles. 11.
4.
To carry from one court to another; as, to remove a cause or suit by appeal.
5.
To take from the present state of being; as, to remove one by death.

REMOVE

, v.i.
1.
To change place in any manner.
2.
To go from one place to another.
3.
To change the place of residence; as, to remove from New York to Philadelphia.

REMOVE

,
Noun.
1.
Change of place.
2.
Translation of one to the place of another.
3.
State of being removed.
4.
Act of moving a man in chess or other game.
5.
Departure; a going away.
6.
The act of changing place; removal.
7.
A step in any scale of gradation.
A freeholder is but one remove from a legislator.
8.
Any indefinite distance; as a small or great remove.
9.
The act of putting a horse's shoes on different feet.
10.
A dish to be changed while the rest of the course remains.
11.
Susceptibility of being removed. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024

remove

remove

See also: remové

English

Verb

remove ‎(third-person singular simple present removes, present participle removing, simple past and past participle removed)

  1. (transitive) To move something from one place to another, especially to take away.
    He removed the marbles from the bag.‎
    • Bible, Deuteronomy xix.14:
      Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark.
    • 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.
    1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To murder.
  3. (cricket, transitive) To dismiss a batsman.
  4. (transitive) To discard, set aside, especially something abstract (a thought, feeling, etc.).
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.viii:
      Die 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.
  5. (intransitive, now rare) To depart, leave.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 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
  6. (intransitive) To change one's residence; to move.
    • William Shakespeare
      Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      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.
  7. To dismiss or discharge from office.
    The President removed many postmasters.‎

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

remove ‎(plural removes)

  1. The act of removing something.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      This place should be at once both school and university, not needing a remove to any other house of scholarship.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Goldsmith
      And drags at each remove a lengthening chain.
  2. (archaic) Removing a dish at a meal in order to replace it with the next course, a dish thus replaced, or the replacement.
  3. (Britain) (at some public schools) A division of the school, especially the form prior to last
  4. A step or gradation (as in the phrase "at one remove")
    • (Can we date this quote?) Addison
      A freeholder is but one remove from a legislator.
  5. Distance in time or space; interval.
    • 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.
  6. (dated) The transfer of one's home or business to another place; a move.
    • (Can we date this quote?) J. H. Newman
      It is an English proverb that three removes are as bad as a fire.
  7. The act of resetting a horse's shoe.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jonathan Swift to this entry?)

References

  • OED 2nd edition 1989

Latin

Verb

removē

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of removeō

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɔvi

Verb

remove

  1. third-person singular present indicative of remover
  2. second-person singular imperative of remover

Etymology

From Middle English remeven, removen, from Anglo-Norman remover, removeir, from Old French remouvoir, from Latin removēre, from re- + movēre ‎(“to move”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˈmuːv/
  • Rhymes: -uːv

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