relegation
(rɛlɪˈgeɪʃən)
[ad. L. relēgātiōn-em, n. of action f. relēgāre to relegate.]
1. a. The action of banishing; the state of temporary exile or banishment. In Roman Antiq. banishment to a certain place, or to a specified distance from Rome, for a limited time and without loss of civil rights. Also attrib.
| 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie ii. 128 The King after this repealed the former sentences and procured their relegation. 1605 G. Powell Refut. Ep. Puritan-Papist 112 Banishment..among the Romanes was 3-fold, Interdiction, Relegation, and Deportation. 1652 J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox iii. 55 Neither the King nor the Queen, who both agreed in this relegation, did communicate to each other their Thoughts. 1684 Contempl. State Man ii. vi. (1699) 195 Other Banished Persons..within the Isle or Region of Relegation, may go or move whither they please. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 502 Deportation which is perpetual, and Relegation which is only for a Time. 1856 Merivale Rom. Emp. xxxviii. (1865) IV. 335 His punishment was not strictly exile, but only the milder form of relegation. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. i. 1039 He has been censured, punished in a sort By relegation,—exile, we should say, To a short distance for a little time. 1869 Ibid. ix. 1254 The priest, Once fairly at his relegation-place, Never once left it. |
b. Banishment or consignment to a place.
| 1829 Southey Sir T. More (1831) II. 190 To consider such relegation to the wilderness as a punishment appropriated for criminals. 1868 Gladstone Juv. Mundi vii. (1870) 177 The deposition, and relegation to a distance, of the older Gods of the nature system. 1897 P. Warung Tales Old Regime 192 Instead of..welcoming his relegation to the gaol-cell..he resented his removal. |
c. Sport. The demotion of a team to a lower division of a league; spec. in Assoc. Football, the reallocation to a lower division of the Football League of an agreed number of teams scoring the fewest points in a division in the course of a season's play. Also attrib.
| 1924 Times 5 May 6/6 Fractions in goal averages decided promotion and relegation. 1928 Daily Express 10 Aug. 13/7 Their supporters have recovered from the bitter disappointment felt when relegation became inevitable. 1949 Times 9 May 6/5 There was the question about relegation from the Championship. 1951 Sport 6–12 Apr. 6/2 Key man in the successful battle now being waged by West Bromwich Albion to steer clear of the First Division relegation zone is Jack Vernon. 1965 [see inject v. 2]. 1969 Listener 1 May 625/3 On Saturday, more than 250 million people are estimated to have watched the ninth club from the bottom of the table beat a relegation candidate by the odd goal. 1977 Daily Mirror 12 Apr. 26/4 We are out of the relegation zone now. |
2. The action of referring, consigning, etc., a thing to others for some purpose.
| 1844 Ld. Dundonald Let. in Pearson's 76th Catal. (1894) 21 The uniform relegation of all my memorials to successive Governments. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 428 The relegation of the government to the mass of the people. |