Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To force to leave a country or place by official decree; exile.
- v. To drive away; expel: We banished all our doubts and fears.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To outlaw; put under ban.
- To condemn to exile by political or judicial authority; expel from or relegate to a country or a place, either permanently or for a time: often with objectives of both person and place: as, he was banished the kingdom; Ovid was banished to Tomi.
- To send or drive away; expel; dismiss: with a person or thing as object: as, to banish sorrow; to banish an obnoxious person from one's presence or thoughts.
- Synonyms Banish, Exile, Expel, expatriate, put away, are all used of removal by physical or moral compulsion; they all have a figurative as well as a literal use. To banish is, literally, to put out of a community or country by ban or civil interdict, and indicates a complete removal out of sight, perhaps to a distance. To exile is simply to cause to leave one's place or country, and is often used reflexively; it emphasizes the idea of leaving home, while banish emphasizes rather that of being forced by some authority to leave it: as, the bitterness of exile; banished to Siberia. Expel, literally, to drive out, means primarily to cast out forcibly and violently, and secondarily with disgrace: as, to expel from the chamber, or from college; he was expelled the country.
Wiktionary
- v. To send someone away and forbid that person from returning.
- v. To expel, especially from the mind.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the ruling power.
- v. To drive out, as from a home or familiar place; -- used with
from andout of . - v. To drive away; to compel to depart; to dispel.
WordNet 3.0
- v. ban from a place of residence, as for punishment
- v. expel, as if by official decree
- v. expel from a community or group
- v. drive away
Etymologies
- From Old French banir ("to proclaim, ban, banish") and Old English bannan, Proto-Germanic *bannanan (“curse, forbid”). Compare to French bannir. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English banishen, from Old French banir, baniss-, of Germanic origin; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In old Mauritania, now Marocco,384 the Moors proper are notable sodomites; Moslems, even of saintly houses, are permitted openly to keep catamites, nor do their disciples think worse of their sanctity for such licence: in one case the English wife failed to banish from the home “that horrid boy.””
“The sad truth was that, for a woman, a hasty word or an embrace—even unwanted—could be enough to tarnish her name and banish her and her family from society.”
“When the Lord recalls the banish'd, [1415] h199-p1. 7, [1416] h199-p2. 4”
“When the Lord recalls the banish'd, [637] h121-p0. 6”
“Do you believe that on some level he was able to "banish" Rakhi's ominous competitor?”
“Having gained power through this coup d'etat, Antonio then proceeded to 'banish' his brother in such a way as to ensure the death of Prospero and his infant daughter, casting them adrift in an unseaworthy sea vessel with only the supply of food and water provided for them by a kindly old courtier named Gonzalo.”
“It was one thing to "banish" a "demon" no one could see-it was quite another to actually defeat such a creature in a battle anyone could see with his own eyes!”
“He expected the High Bishop to "banish" the creature as he always had before, though probably in a much more spectacular manner.”
“199 When the Lord recalls the banish'd [812] Bürde 1794 153”
“The miseries o 'life are a' banish'd far frae hame,”
The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume V. The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘banish’.
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
The Blacklist
Stop SOPA.
blackout, redact, bowdlerize, censor, remove, conceal, bleach, bleep, blue-pencil, control, edit, excise and 24 more...
-
Words that end in "-ish" but aren't a...
embellish, flourish, garnish, rubbish, nourish, admonish, punish, finish, blemish, abolish, accomplish, parish and 41 more...
-
Literally
Words with definitions that contain the word "literally."
Biblicist, cy pres, literally, lit., loan translation, metaphrase, polite, Embarrass, repentance, rabbi, sparkle, article and 30 more...
-
Verb ish
English verbs that end in -ish.
Most of these come from Old French stems that end in 'iss' like floriss-, brandiss-, distinguiss-, etc.
Exceptions are: Fish, Wish, Dish (f...flourish, brandish, vanish, astonish, perish, polish, nourish, famish, accomplish, admonish, banish, blemish and 24 more...
-
the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
-
To Send Away or Dismiss
Verbs meaning send away or dismiss
-
Week 1, Day 1
ignominy, marquee, deter, chariot, stern, perfidy, treacherous, insolent, presumptuous, banish, dubious, livid and 133 more...
-
dark and bright words of shine and fi...
scotophil, scotoma, scotia, shed, shadow, shade, scone, whiting, edelweiss, light, lightning, lucina and 349 more...
-
GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
-
Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
-
Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
-
Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
-
merfee's Words
supple, dichotomy, relish, rhapsody, pneumonoultramicr..., embrace, ishmael, ebullient, recalcitrant, elegy, char, lugubrious and 522 more...
-
Words Covered in Faery Dust (B)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
balcony, bailey, baguette, bairn, balalaika, baldric, balefire, baby's breath, ballet, balm of gilead, balsam, baluster and 188 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for banish.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.