evict

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English evicten,^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman evict (“recovered by judicial process”), a past participle recorded from 1396,^[5][6] and partly borrowed from Latin ēvictus,^[5][4][7] past participle of ēvincō (“to conquer completely; to recover by judicial means”).^[5][7][4][8] Most other dictionaries give only the Latin source, and the OED's revision of March 2018 adds the Anglo-Norman one.^[5][4][2] The Latin verb is formed from ē-, a form of ex (“out”), perhaps merely intensive here, and vincō (“to conquer”),^[7][2][9] which Watkins, as cited by Etymonline, traces to Proto-Indo-European *weik- (“to fight, conquer”).^[7] The verb evince comes from the same Latin word.^[10][7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To recover property, or the title to it, by legal process: 1447, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[5][4] It is attested first as a past participle.^[5]

Semantic evolution

English took over the range of legal senses that the Latin verb had developed from "defeat": to recover something by beating an opponent in court, to eject by judicial process, and to prove by legal argument.^[10] The sense "expel a person by legal process" appears in 1536, in a letter of Henry VIII,^[5][4] and is from a post-classical sense of the Latin word.^[7] It widened by 1548 to forcing someone out of any place or position.^[5] For a time the verb also meant to conquer (1560–1602) or overcome (1596–1667), to extort by force (1567–1674) and to prove (1571–1771).^[5] Evict and evince were not clearly separated until the 18th century, when each settled into its present meaning.^[10][7] Johnson (1755) gave only the legal senses, to dispossess by judicial process and to take away by a sentence of law, quoting Davies on Ireland.^[12] The old property sense lasted to 1818 in the OED,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford calls it now historical.^[9] Weekley held that the specific modern sense belongs to the 19th century.^[13] A noun evict, a person who has been evicted, is recorded from 1881, perhaps after convict.^[5]

Timeline

• 1447 – to recover property by legal process (obsolete by 1818).^[5][4]
• 1536 – to expel a person from land or property by legal process.^[5][4]
• 1548 – to eject someone forcibly from any place or position.^[5]
• 1560 – to conquer a country (obsolete by 1602).^[5]
• 1567 – to extort by force (obsolete by 1674).^[5]
• 1571 – to prove by argument or evidence (obsolete by 1771).^[5]
• 1596 – to overcome an adversary (obsolete by 1667).^[5]
• 1881 – noun, a person who has been evicted.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put a tenant or other occupant out of a property by legal process: The owner evicted the shopkeeper for unpaid rent.^[14][3][5]
2. To force out or expel from any place or position: Rebels were evicted from the fort by a dawn assault.^[3][5]
3. (law) To recover property, or the title to it, by legal process or a superior title.^[14][3][9]
4. (obsolete, 1560–1667) To conquer or overcome.^[5][9]
5. (obsolete, 1571–1771) To establish by argument or evidence; to prove.^[5][3]

Noun

1. A person who has been evicted; an evictee.^[5]

Word family

• evictee
• eviction
• evictor
• unevicted

Related words

• evince
• victor
• vincible
• convict

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins