banish
verb/ˈbænɪʃ/
Etymology From Middle English banishen, from Old French baniss-, extended stem of banir (“to proclaim, ban, banish”), of Germanic origin and Old English bannan, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“curse, forbid”). Compare French bannir. Doublet of ban.
1
To send (someone) away and forbid them from returning.
- He was banished from the kingdom for his crimes.
- The parsnip, stilton and chestnut combination may taste good, but it's not terribly decorative. In fact, dull's the word, a lingering adjectival ghost of nut roasts past that I'm keen to banish from the table.2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:
2 more examples
- he never referreth any one unto vertue, religion, or conscience: as if they were all extinguished and banished the world […]., II.10
- Then yours she will never be! You are banished her presence; her mother has opened her eyes to your designs, and she is now upon her guard against them.1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 190:
2
To expel, especially from the mind.
- to banish fear; to banish a qualm
- […]St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- banishable, banishee, banisher, rebanish, unbanish
- Related terms
- banishment