depose

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deposen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French deposer (“to put away, put down”),^[2][5][6][7] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the first half of the 12th century, already meaning to remove from office and to make a formal statement in court.^[8] The dictionaries differ on how the French verb was made.^[9][7] The OED, Etymonline and Barnhart analyse it as de- (“down”) and poser (“to put, place”),^[9][6][4] the latter from Late Latin pausō (“to cease, lie down, lay down”).^[9] In the OED's account, association with the forms of Latin pōnō then let it replace Old French depondre and take over the sense of the Latin compound.^[9] The American Heritage Dictionary, Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford instead treat it as an alteration of dēpōnō (“to lay aside, put down”) under the influence of that French verb,^[7][3][10] the Shorter Oxford adding the past participle dēpositus.^[10] The Latin verb had the sense "to remove from office" in Late Latin.^[3][5] Skeat and Weekley both remark on the confusion with the derivatives of the Latin verb, such as deposition and deposit.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To remove from office or authority, especially from a throne: about 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[9][6] Barnhart dates the same record probably before 1300,^[4] and the OED calls this the earliest and still the prevailing sense.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Depose kept its first sense, to put a ruler out of office, throughout its history, while the literal meanings of the French verb arrived later in English: to bring down or lower in 1377, in Piers Plowman, to take away authority or a burden in 1393, in Gower, and to lay something down about 1420.^[9][10] Most of these faded: laying aside a feeling or quality lasted from 1526 to 1677, placing a thing for safe keeping from 1583 to 1750, and the deposit of sediment by fluids from 1759 to 1816.^[9] The legal sense, to testify, appears about 1425,^[9][6] while from the 1560s the verb could also mean to examine a witness under oath.^[6][10] Johnson (1755) lists five senses, to lay down, to dethrone, to divest, to testify and to examine on oath, and marks the last as "not now in use".^[13] A noun depose, custody or a thing held in deposit, and later removal from office, is recorded from 1393 to 1559.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to remove from office, to dethrone.^[9][6]
• 1377 – to bring down, to lower in position or estate.^[9]
• 1393 – to take away authority or a burden (obsolete by 1617); noun, custody, a deposit (obsolete).^[9]
• c. 1420 – to lay down or let fall (now archaic).^[9][6]
• c. 1425 – to testify, intransitive.^[9]
• 1526 – to lay aside a feeling or quality (obsolete by 1677).^[9]
• 1560s – to examine under oath.^[6]
• 1562 – to state on oath, with a clause as object.^[9]
• 1583 – to place for safe keeping (obsolete by 1750).^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To remove someone from a throne or other high office: The generals deposed the president in a night-time coup.^[5][3][9]
2. (law) To testify or state on oath, especially in writing; to make a deposition.^[5][9][10]
3. (law) To examine a witness on oath.^[6][10]
4. (archaic) To lay or put something down.^[9][10]
5. (obsolete, 1393–1617) To take away authority from someone, or to remove a burden.^[9][10]
6. (obsolete, 1526–1677) To put aside a feeling or quality.^[9][10]

Word family

• deposable
• deposer
• undeposed
• deposal
• undeposable

Related words

• deponent
• deposit
• deposition
• pose
• repose
• depone

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.