dispeople, v.
(dɪsˈpiːp(ə)l)
[ad. OF. despeupler, mod.F. dépeupler (1364 in Hatzf.) = Sp. despoblar, Pr. despovoar, It. dis-, dipopolare, Romanic formation from des-, L. dis-, dis- 4 + populus people, parallel to L. dēpopulāre (used in med.L. in same sense): cf. depopulate. In sense 3 f. dis- 7 b + people n.]
1. trans. To deprive wholly or partially of people or inhabitants; = depopulate 2.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xviii. 69 My cytee shalle be dispeopled. 1562 T. Phaer æneid viii. X ij b, And voyde of tilmen wide dispeoplyng spoyle the shyres. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. xiii. (1653) 93 Some cruell Lord..could..dispeople a whole parish, and send many soules a gooding. 1709 tr. Baltus' Answ. Hist. Oracles 114 Cities [were seen] to dispeople themselves every Year—to obey these Impostors. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. VI. 250 They thought it but compliance with the Divine command to dispeople the land of the Philistines, the Edomites, and the Moabites. |
| absol. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 368 Without pittie pyllaging and dispeopling by sea and shore. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geogr. Soc. XXIX. 352 Their only ambition is to dispeople and destroy. |
b. transf. and
fig. To deprive of animated inhabitants, tenants, or constituents.
| 1632 Randolph Jealous Lovers ii. ii. Wks. (1875) 92 We will dispeople all the elements To please our palates. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 47 And Kings..Who claim'd the skies, dispeopled air and floods. 1777 Gamblers 8 The groaning wood dispeopled of its trees. 1890 Daily News 29 Sept. 4/8 The whole [fish] breed is ruined, and the water dispeopled. |
† 2. To exterminate (people).
Obs.| 1596 J. Norden Progr. Pietie (1847) 97 To cut us off and to dispeople us. 1643 Oath Pacif. 10 Ireland hath seene more than two hundred thousand Families of Brittish Protestants dispeopled and massacred. |
† 3. [
dis- 7 b.] To cast out or cut off from being a people.
Obs.| 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. vii, When no rebellious crimes That God-like nation yet dispeopled. 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea iv. (1652) 67 The people of God..when they are dispeopled they are cast off from this their privilege. 1687 Reason of Toleration 17 Traps and Snares to dis-People the Nation. |
Hence
disˈpeopled ppl. a., deprived of people or inhabitants, depopulated, uninhabited.
| 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. (1596) 41 Any desert or dispeopled countrie. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. (1632) 561 The King was left very dispeopled. 1740 C. Pitt æneid v. (R.), Endless crowds..From all the wide dispeopled country round. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxii. 187 The dispeopled city was placed..at the disposal of Argos. |