remove

Pronunciation

• IPA: /rɪˈmuːv/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English removen or remeven,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French removoir (“to move, stir; leave; take away”) (French remouvoir),^[2][4][5] from Latin removēre (“to move back or away, take away”),^[2][4] from re- (“back, away”) and movēre (“to move”),^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *meue- (“to push away”).^[2] The two Middle English forms come from the stressed and unstressed stems of the Old French verb.^[5] It is related to move and remote.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take something away, to dismiss from office: the early 14th century in Etymonline,^[2] and probably before 1325 in Barnhart.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“To go away, depart” and “to change one's residence” are from the 14th century.^[2][5] The noun, the removal of a person from office, is from 1553,^[4][6][3] and a change of place from the 1580s.^[2] Distance, the space by which one thing is removed from another, as in at one remove, is from 1628.^[4][2] The dish removed at a meal to make room for another is from 1771,^[6] and promotion from one class to another at school, and so the name of a form, from the 18th century.^[5] removal is from 1597.^[4] In Scotland, to be removed was to die.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to take away, dismiss.^[4]
• 14th century – to depart; to move house.^[2]
• 1553 – noun, removal from office.^[4][6]
• 1597 – removal.^[4]
• 1628 – distance, a degree of separation.^[4]
• 18th century – a class at school.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move from a place or position; to take away or off.
2. To get rid of; to eliminate.
3. To dismiss from office.
4. (formal) To move to another place of residence.

Noun

1. A degree of separation: at one remove from the truth.
2. (British) A form or class in some schools.

Word family

• remover
• removability
• removableness
• removably
• removable
• removal

Related words

• move
• remote
• motion
• emotion

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)