evict, v.
(ɪˈvɪkt)
[f. L. ēvict- ppl. stem of ēvincĕre, f. ē- out + vincĕre to conquer.
The etymological senses of the Lat. word are 1. To conquer or overcome completely (ē- having merely an intensive force); 2. To obtain by conquering or overcoming; to recover by judicial means; to gain or accomplish in spite of obstacles; 3. To overcome and expel; to eject by judicial process; 4. To elicit by force of argument, to prove. See evince.]
I. Law.
1. trans. To recover (property or the title to property) of or from any one by a judicial process, or in virtue of a superior title.
| 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 29 Indent., Yf the seid advouson..after the seid..appropriacion be evicted and taken from the said Abbas and Convent. 1541–2 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 39. §54 If the said manours..be recovered or euicted out of or from the possession of eny suche person..by eny just or former title. 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 145 Earle Hubert granted to the said John..all the right that he had in the countie of Granople, and whatsoever might be got and evicted in the same countie. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. Eng. 118 He euicted the same [the island of Seales] in law. a 1610 Healey Theophrast. (1616) To Rdr., If the thing bought bee euicted from the buyer, by reason the seller his possession was not good. 1635 Sir R. Boyle Diary in Lismore Papers Ser. i. (1886) IV. 81 That [he]..should give sufficient securetie..to answer all the mean profitts if by law I should evict his tytle. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Eviction, If land is evicted, before the time of payment of rent on a lease, no rent shall be paid by the lessee. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 434 If A. gives in exchange three acres to B. for other three acres, and afterwards one acre is evicted from B...the whole exchange is defeated. |
† b. ? To vacate, retire from. Obs. rare—1.
| 1530 in Rymer Fœdera (1712) XIV. 373 The same Lord Cardinall shall not Resign Leve Relese or otherwise Discharge or Evicte his Possession. |
2. To expel (a person) by legal process † of, from, out of (land, etc.); also simply.
| 1536 Hen. VIII. in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 124. II. 90 You have evictyd hym of the possessyon of the same. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. v. (1599) 199 They had no conscience to euict the iust owner out of the whole. a 1619 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626) 52 Being..euicted by Law, of certayne other parcels of Land. 1720–54 Apol. S.-Sea Direct. in Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xvii. 365/2 They had been evicted out of their estates however long enjoyed. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 323 If, after an exchange of lands..either party be evicted of those which were taken by him in exchange, through defect of the other's title. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Eviction, If a widow is evicted of her dower or thirds, she shall be endowed in the other lands of the heir. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. iv. §3 Should it be sold..the purchaser may be evicted by the wife or children. |
b. In recent popular use, esp. To eject (a tenant) from his holding.
| 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. xxxiv. 419 The great landowners evicted their tenantry, who were thus thrown upon the country, houseless and landless, but free. 1889 Daily News 8 May 5/7 Two of the principal tenants on the estate..were evicted. |
c. Hence transf. To eject (persons) forcibly from any position.
| 1876 Weiss Wit. Hum. & Shaks. i. 5 When a great freshet takes possession of a country and evicts the tenants of every hole, thicket, and burrow, there is an indiscriminate stampede of the animals. 1878 M. E. Herbert tr. Hübner's Ramble i. xii. 197 The new arrivals are the born antagonists of our enemies. They will evict them. |
II. General senses.
† 3. a. To conquer (a country, etc.); to obtain by conquest. Obs.
| 1560 Cotton MS. in Froude Hist. Eng. (1881) VI. 326 [The kingdom to be] evicted out of the hands of their own nation. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 368 Edward..euicted from the Danes the Prouince of East-Anglia. |
† b. To overcome (an adversary, adverse circumstances, etc.) Obs.
| 1642 G. Eglisham Forerun. Revenge 7 Meanes may be had to resist or evict the most violent beast that ever nature bred. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 171 Their industry fortunated by God has made head against its misfortune, and evicted its cloud. |
† 4. To extort by force. Obs. Cf. evince 3.
| 1631 Chapman Cæsar & Pompey iv. i, Your happy exposition..Euicts glad grant from me you hold a truth. 1648 G. Daniel Eclog. v. 200 Rebell mouths (who speake noe truth, vnles Evicted 'bove their Rage) did then confesse Him master of y⊇ feild. |
† 5. a. To vanquish in argument or litigation; to confute (a disputant), refute (an opinion or argument). b. To convict or convince (of). Obs.
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (Hakluyt Soc.) App. 305 When by argumente they weare evicted, they pleaded mysunderstandinge of the interpretore or coruptyone in the translacion. 1594 T. B. La Primaud Fr. Acad. ii. 585 Before hee coulde haue euicted Democritus of his foolish opinion. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven Pref. (1831) 77 This work doth sharply reprove and evict the world of sin. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xxx. (1639) 50 Therfore (as Johannicus saith) the eye hath seven coates..But his opinion..by sundry Anatomists hath been evicted, making but only six. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. vii. (1614) 13/2 Canute to evict his flatterers made triall of his Deitie. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. 5 He..had need take great heed..least instead of evicting his adversary, he only acquires the repute of a light and foolish man. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Evict, to convince by force of argument, etc. |
† 6. To establish by argument, to prove. With simple obj. or obj. sentence; also with inf. or as with complement. Obs. = evince 4.
| 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 126 There are wonderfull cunning men on your side, if they can euict this. 1610 C. Hampton Serm. 30 Which euicteth..that there was one greater than the rest. 1614 Bp. Hall Epist. v. ix, Let this stand evicted for the true and necessarie sense of the Apostle. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 221 That it is in its own nature laudable..is by some evicted by the authority of the Ancients. 1715 Cheyne Philos. Princ. Relig. i. (ed. 2) 306 This nervous Fluid has never been discovered in live Animals..nor its necessity evicted by any cogent experiment. 1722 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 683 Unless your friend have more to evict them [papers] to be Mr. M‘Ward's than Mr. Goodal's saying so. |
† b. To settle (a controversy) by a decisive argument. Obs.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 447 It might seeme that we had alleadged sufficiently for thys matter, and evicted the controversy throughly. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. ii. vi. Whether..that argument does evict the question. |
Hence ˈevict n. [cf. convict], eˌvicˈtee, an evicted tenant (rare). eˈvicting vbl. n. (attrib.) and ppl. a.
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 10 Dec. 1/2 Not a penny of rent to be paid until the ‘evicts’ were reinstated. 1879 Daily News 31 Jan. 2/2 This I found tenanted by some people who..were considerably above the rank of the evictees. 1889 Daily News 8 May 5/7, 130 police accompanied the evicting party. 1863 Fawcett Pol. Econ. ii. vii. 237 Assassination was the retribution with which the cottiers of Ireland not unfrequently punished an evicting landlord. |