evacuate
verb/ɪˈvæk.ju.eɪt/
Etymology First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (“to empty out, evacuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
1
To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from.
- The soldiers evacuated the fortress.
- The firefighters told us to evacuate the area as the flames approached.
1 more example
- The Norwegians were forced to evacuate the country.1757, Edmund Burke, The Abridgement of the History of England:
2
To cause (or help) to leave or withdraw from.
- The firefighters decided to evacuate all the inhabitants from the street.
- Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese.1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:
3
To make empty; to empty out; to remove the contents of, including to create a vacuum.
- The scientist evacuated the chamber before filling it with nitrogen.
4
Figuratively To make empty; to deprive.
- Evacuate the Scriptures of their most important doctrines.1825, James Marsh, Preliminary Essay to Aids to Reflection:
5
To remove; to eject; to void; to discharge, as the contents of a vessel, or of the bladder or the bowels (to stool).
- In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; to assimilate a part; to evacuate what is redundant or useless; [...]1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization, Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 1:
6
To make void; to nullify; to vacate.
- to evacuate a contract or marriage
- it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and actual consummation1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- ejaculate and evacuate, evacuative, evacuator, evacuatory, self-evacuate
- Related terms
- evacuation