▪ I. exile, n.1
(ˈɛksaɪl, ˈɛgzaɪl)
Also 4 exil, 5–6 exyl(e, exyll(e.
[a. OF. exil, refashioned form of essil, state of banishment, also (cf. sense 2) devastation, destruction = Pr. essilh, semi-popular ad. L. exsilium state of banishment, f. ex- out + sal- (= Skr. sar- to go), root of salīre to leap (whence also exsul: see exul); cf. consilium counsel. In sense 2, OF. essil is a vbl. n. f. essiller: see exile v. 4. (Formerly accented eˈxile.)]
1. Enforced removal from one's native land according to an edict or sentence; penal expatriation or banishment; the state or condition of being penally banished; enforced residence in some foreign land. Phrases, † to go, put in or to exile; to drive, go, send into exile.
In Israelitish history spec. the captivity of the Jews in the 5th century b.c.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1154 (Cott.) Wit all þou sal bi halden vile, Quar-sa þou wendes in exile. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 131 How alle his kynde exile was on þam laid. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iii. 10 Whi art þou comen in to þis solitarie place of myn exil. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. viii. 44 Saynt Thomas In Frawns, as in-til Exile, was. 1529 Rastell Pastyme (1811) 41 He was put to exyle in to y⊇ yle of Sardeyn. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 211 Griefe of my Sonnes exile hath stopt her breath. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 632 These puissant Legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav'n. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xiii. 177 The first bishops..newly returned out of their exiles, as Cox, Grindal [etc.]. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. x. 365 He had taken the advantage of his exile to travel. 1838 Lytton Leila ii. i, I accept them: provided, first, that thou obtainest the exile or death of Muza. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 35 Zapolya neglected no means by which he could, from his exile at Tarnow, keep Hungary in a state of agitation. 1868 E. Edwards Raleigh I. xxi. 460 Exile was made the condition of his pardon. |
b. gen. Expatriation, prolonged absence from one's native land, endured by compulsion of circumstances or voluntarily undergone for any purpose.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 187 To do profite to the comune He toke of exile the fortune. c 1400 Destr. Troy 724 Soche a maiden..þat forsec hir fader & hir fre londe..Auntrede hir to Exile euer for þi [Jason's] sake. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 298 For thy exile and fleynge in to Egypte. 1548 Hall Chron. 242 b, He so..greved his nobilitie..that some of their voluntarie will, went into Exile. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 519 After an exile of many years, Dudley North returned to England with a large fortune. |
c. transf. and fig.
| c 1315 Shoreham 19 Godes flesche and eke hys blode..frevereth ous in oure exil. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1165 Þe world es na thyng elles Bot en hard exil, in qwilk men duelles. 1340 Ayenb. 131 Huan he..y-ziȝþ þise wordle þet ne is bote an exil and a dezert uol of lyons. c 1450 Castle Hd. Life St. Cuthb. (Surtees) 7994 Þe same bischope..Fra his kirke was putt in exile. 1547 Act 37 Hen. VIII, c. 2 The couersion therof [Hounsloo Heathe] into tillage..by mennes labour..shall be an exile of idlenesse in those parties. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 20 Banished is banisht from the world, And worlds exile is death. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Vocation, All our life and Age Is but an exile and a Pilgrimage. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. i. 20 And out of its exile The passion return. |
d. attrib.
| 1720 Welton Suffer. Son of God I. viii. 202 Thou Deigned to Come down..to dwell with Me in this Exile-World. Ibid. I. ix. 207 Man, a Pilgrim upon Earth..should sanctify his Exile-state, by these Trials. |
† 2. Waste or devastation of property; ruin, utter impoverishment. to put in exile [OF. metre a essil]: to ravage (a country), ruin (a person). Obs.
| [1267 Act 52 Hen. III, c. 23 Item firmarii tempore firmarum suarum vastum, vendicionem, seu exilium non faciant, in domibus, boscis, hominibus, neque, &c.] c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶869, I..purpose me..to putte hem in exil for ever⁓more. c 1450 Lonelich Grail liii. 96 Ȝif oure rem withowten kyng be ony while, It myhte sone thanne fallen into exylle. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour E vj b, He began werre to his neyghbours..in so much that the reame was put in exyl. 1490 ― Eneydos xxii. (1890) 81 Her cyte and landes of Cartage are all dystroied and tourned in exyll. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John 74 a, The temple was.. repayred after the exile that was made at Hierusalem by the Persians. 1618 Pulton Stat. 52 Hen. III, c. 23 Fermors, during their termes, shall not make wast, sale, nor exile of House, Woods, and Men..without speciall licence. [So 1700 in J. Tyrell Hist. Eng. II. 1114.] |
▪ II. exile, n.2
(ˈɛksaɪl)
[Of obscure formation; perh. merely a concrete use of exile n.1 1 (cf. OF. and ME. prison = prisoner); the development of sense may have been produced by direct association with L. exsul. It may however be f. exile v.]
1. A banished person; one compelled to reside away from his native land.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. (Kölbing) 8922 To lese his londes & ben exil. c 1450 Castle Hd. Life St. Cuthb. (Surtees) 5308 Of þair bischop, þat lange whyle had bene fra his kirk exile. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iii. i. 285 Get thee from my sight, Thou art an Exile, and thou must not stay. 1611 Bible Isa. li. 14 The captiue exile hasteneth that he may be loosed. 1697 Dryden Virg. Ecl. i. 91 O must the wretched Exiles ever mourn, Nor after length of rowling Years return? 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. I. ii. 85 This unhappy exile..was destined to be the father of a race of kings. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 105 Had been found guilty of the crime of patriotism, and was..an exile from his country. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. 399 Thousands of Flemish exiles found a refuge in the Cinque Ports. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1790 Norman & Bertha I. 2 Thither froward fate pursued this amiable exile pair. 1856 Grote Greece ii. xcv. XII. 439 The officers of Antipater, called in the language of the time exile-hunters, were..on the look⁓out to seize these proscribed men. 1888 Century Mag. May 3 A careful study of the exile system [of Russia.] Ibid. 4 Officers of the Exile Administration. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 365 The poor exiles..Hung round the bowers, and fondly looked their last. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 144 An exile from the paternal roof. 1843 Neale Hymns for Sick 58 Thy grace in us, poor exiles yet, implant. 1852 Earp Gold. Col. Australia 100 The convict system ceased in New South Wales in 1839; but ‘exiles’ as they were termed, i.e. men who had passed their probation at home, were forwarded till 1843. |
2. attrib. in exile-tree, exile-oil-plant, a name applied in India to the Thevetia neriifolia (family Apocynaceæ), a plant introduced into that country from the West-Indies or tropical America.
It has large saffron-coloured flowers, and the bark is used in medicine as an antiperiodic.
| 1865 Madras Quart. Jrnl. Med. Science VIII. 195, I met with a large solitary tree..and from its situation, it occurred to me..that the popular English name of ‘Exile’ seemed very appropriate. 1868 Waring Pharmacopœia of India 138 A West Indian shrub, domesticated in India, and cultivated under the name of The Exile or Yellow Oleander. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Exile-tree. 1884 Miller Plant-n. s.v. Oil-plant, Exile. Ibid. s.v. Thevetia, Exile-oil-plant. |
▪ III. exile, a. Obs. or arch.
(ˈɛksaɪl, ˈɛgzaɪl)
[ad. L. exīlis thin, lank. Cf. F. exile (Cotgr.).
The ultimate etymology is disputed; some regard it as contracted from *exigilis, f. exigĕre (cf. exiguous); others as f. ex- privative + īlia entrails, the primary sense being assumed to have been ‘disembowelled’.]
1. Slender, shrunken, thin; diminutive.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 387 Ache seede..Wherof the flaume hath lefte a core exile. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Champ, Excellent spirits are often lodged in exile, or small, bodies. 1671 Flamsteed in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 124, I saw the Anses of Saturn very exile. 1687 H. More App. Antid. (1712) 225 This actual division of the whole into so many subtile, exile, invisible particles. |
2. Attenuated, thin. Of theories: Fine-spun.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. viii. 18 That ground which..breathes..forth exile and fumie vapours quickly vanishing..is..plyant for the plowe. 1626 Bacon Sylva §75 Meanes..to draw forth the Exile heat which is in the Air. Ibid. §155 His Voice plainly..made extreame sharp and exile, like the Voice of Puppets. 1647 H. More Song of Soul i. Pref., These exile Theories. 1797 Hist. in Ann. Reg. 178/1 It is not..the paper that is, in fact, the substitute for money but something still more exile; the promise..stamped upon it. |
† b. Gr. Gram. Unaspirated. Obs.
| 1671 H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 202 If οὔ be acuted and exile, etc. |
3. Meagre, scanty; ‘lean’, poorly endowed. Also of soils: Poor, barren.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 30 In lande ther ayer is hoot and drie, And erthe exile or hilly drie or lene, Vynes beth best ysette. 1525 Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 99 II. 18 The Suppression of certain exile and small Monasteries. 1535 Cranmer in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. xxvi. 189 Their benefices were so exile..that no learned man would take them. 1565 W. Alley Poor Man's Libr. I. Ded. A iij, The little talent of my exile and sclender learnyng. 1654 Fuller Comm. Ruth (1868) 123 Is it not a petty, a small, exile courtesy. 1685 H. More Paralip. Proph. 451 A more magnificent expression of what is, Chap. II, said in more exile phrase. 1863 J. R. Walbran Mem. Fountains Ab. (Surtees) I. 50 The convent was in the most exile condition. |
b. quasi-adv.
| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes i. iii. 8 The ingeniousest Wits in the world have been such who feed exilest, or most slenderly. |
▪ IV. exile, v.
(ˈɛksaɪl, ˈɛgzaɪl)
Forms: 4–6 exil(l, excile, 4 exile-n, 5 exyl(e, 4– exile.
[ad. OF. exilier (12th c.), learned form of essillier, esseillier, etc.:— late L. exiliāre, f. ex(s)ilium exile n.1 In OF. the vb. has chiefly the sense to ravage, devastate (cf. sense 4 below); for the development of meaning cf. exterminate. (Formerly accented eˈxile; so always in Shakes. and Milton.)]
1. trans. To compel (a person) by a decree or enactment to leave his country; to banish, expatriate: a. with from, † out of; also † into, to.
| a 1330 Roland & V. 39 Þe king ebrahim Out of lond exiled him. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 156 Afterwarde into an ile This Jupiter him didde exile. c 1450 Merlin x. 145 [They should] go vpon the kynge Arthur.. and so exile hym fro all the contree. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 73 The emperour exyled Iohan..into the yle of Pathmose. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 192 For that offence, Immediately we doe exile him hence. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. xi. 35 Whom assuredly they could not think exiled from Heaven. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 242 Ravenna..very kindly received Dante, when he was exiled from Florence. |
b. with double obj. (Cf. banish.)
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1862) 179 Godwine..and his Sonnes were exiled the Realme. 1606 Earl of Northampton in True & Perfect Relat. E e iij a, For Conspiracy..was the Archb. Cant. exiled the Kingdom. 1608 J. King Serm. 24 Mar. 3 He..was exiled the world. 1812 S. Rogers Columbus iii. 21 All, exiled the realms of rest, In vain the sadness of their souls suppressed. |
c. simply. Also † to exile forth.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 58 Þerfor was þe dome gyuen..To exile þe erle Godwyn. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 263 The fader..Forth with the sone they exile. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13070 Orestes..shuld render his londes, And be exilede for euermore. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 182 Sum part off tham..That Makfadȝan had exilde furth beforne. a 1471 Chron. Rich. II, etc. (Camden 1856) 13 The kyng [Rich. II]..exilid the duke of Hereforde for terme of x. yeer. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 186 Thou takest it heavily that thou shouldest be..exiled without cause. 1697 Dryden æneid i. 3 The man..who forc'd by fate..Expell'd and exil'd. 1840 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 91 Hear us sing above you ‘Exiled is not lost’. |
† d. intr. To be in exile; = L. exsulare. rare.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2582 (Cott.) A uoice..said..In egipte suld his sede exile In tharldon four hundret ȝere. a 1618 Sylvester Du Bartas (1621) 1041 The more the Body dures, Soul more indures; Never too soon can Shee from thence exile. |
2. transf. and fig. To banish or separate from (one's home, a pleasant or endeared place or association). Const. as in 1 a, b, c.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2974 Þe saules here..Er exild fra þis lyf til payn, With-outen any turnyng agayn. 1500–20 Dunbar In Prays of Woman, Exylit he suld be of all gud company. 1526 Tindale Acts iii. 23 Every soule which shall not heare that same prophet shal be exyled [ed. 1534 destroyed; so in Wyclif (1382–8), Bible (1611), etc.] from the people. 1578 Gude & Godl. Ball. 118 That will [free will] thy presence hes me exilit. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 386 They wilfully themselves exile from light. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. vii, Exiled the circle of the court. 1749 G. West tr. Pindar, 1st Pythian Ode (R.), Exil'd from Praise, from Virtue, and the Muse. 1781 Cowper Charity 243, I am free; At my best home, if not exiled from thee. 1814 Jane Austen Watsons xxvi, You are fitted for society and it is shameful you should be exiled from it. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 80 The French live at court, and exile themselves to their estates for economy. |
† 3. To banish, expel, get rid of. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 385 Þis oonhede þat Crist made is wel nyȝe excilid. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 13 Þe pestilence, Which haþ exiled pacience Fro þe clergie in special. c 1430 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. lxxiii, For to exile Trouthe..Out of her Court. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour Q iv, Her lord exyled and put her fro hym. c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 27 Gildas..exilinge all fables, most ernestlie embraceth truth. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 431 None, that had not clean exiled all humanity. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 46 Equitie [is] exil'd your Highnesse Land. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. 27 That place..Where black-brow'd night doth not exile the day. 1700 Dryden Fables, Cymon & Iphig. 218 His brutal manners from his breast exiled. |
† II. 4. To devastate, ravage, bring to ruin. Obs. Cf. exile n.1 3.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xv. (1869) 12 Þilke þat wolen exile þe hous of grace dieu and dispoile it of hire goodes. a 1470 Tiptoft Cæsar xiii. (1530) 18 Hys cuntry so robbed, pylled & exyled [vastatis]. 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. vi. 32 Yf ne were theyre..good prechynge..Cristente shold be exyled by errour and euyl byleue. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxvi. 38 He wasted..all the playn countrey of Scotland, and exiled diuerse townes. a 1533 ― Huon clxii. 633 They exyle your countre, they sle men, women and chyldren. |