online medical dictionary | definition of despoil

1. To strip, as of clothing; to divest or unclothe.

2. To deprive for spoil; to plunder; to rob; to pillage; to strip; to divest; usually followed by of. "The clothed earth is then bare, Despoiled is the summer fair." (Gower) "A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled." (Macaulay) "Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss." (Milton)

Synonyms: To strip, deprive, rob, bereave, rifle.

Origin: OF. Despoiller, F. Depouiller, L. Despoliare, despoliatum; de- + spoliare to strip, rob, spolium spoil, booty. Cf. Spoil, Despoliation.

(01 Mar 1998)