relocate

Etymology

In its current senses it is formed from English re- + locate.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The earliest, Scots-law use was borrowed from Latin relocō (“to let again, relet”), from its past participial stem, probably after relocation;^[2] the Latin verb is formed from re- and locō (“to place; to let”),^[2] from locus (“place”).^[4] Etymonline notes that in Late Latin the verb meant to bring a thing back to its former place and also to let out again.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Scots law, with tacitly, to renew a lease by tacit relocation: 1681, in James Dalrymple's Institutions of the Law of Scotland, a rare use now obsolete.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern verb began in the United States.^[2][6][5] Etymonline finds it in 1822 for moving something, originally a road, to another place,^[4] and the OED's first record of "to move to another place, resettle" is from Niles' Register in 1829, the year Merriam-Webster gives.^[2][3] The intransitive sense "to settle again" or "to move to a new location", especially for work, is recorded by 1841 according to Etymonline, in 1851 in the OED.^[4][2] In American mining use from 1845 it also meant to reallocate land or a claim, and since 1874 to find again or fix anew the position of something.^[2] Collins defines it chiefly of employees and businesses moving to a new place of work.^[7]

Timeline

• 1681 – Scots law, to renew a lease tacitly (obsolete).^[2]
• 1822 – to move something, originally a road, to another place.^[4]
• 1829 – to move to another place; to resettle a person.^[2][3]
• 1841 – intransitive, to settle again, according to Etymonline.^[4]
• 1845 – US mining, to reallocate land or a claim.^[2]
• 1851 – intransitive, to move to a new location, especially for work.^[2]
• 1874 – to find again the location of something.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move someone or something to a new place; to set up in a new location: The council relocated the market to the old station yard.^[3][7][2]
2. To move to a new place to live or work, especially when an employer or business moves: They relocated to Leeds for her new job.^[7][3][5]
3. (chiefly US mining) To reallocate land or a claim.^[2]
4. To find again, or fix anew, the position of something.^[2]

Word family

• relocation
• relocatable
• relocatee

Related words

• locate
• location
• local
• allocate
• dislocate
• lieu

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins