evacuate, v.
(ɪˈvækjuːeɪt)
Also 6–7 evacuat. pa. pple. 6–7 evacuat(e.
[f. L. ēvacuāt- ppl. stem of ēvacuā-re (Pliny), f. ē out + vacuus empty. Cf. Fr. évacuer.
In class. L. ēvacuāre is found only in Pliny, with the sense ‘to empty (the bowels)’. The Vulgate and later law-books have the fig. sense ‘to make void, nullify’, which is rather to be regarded as parallel with the older sense than as developed from it, being based on the fig. sense of vacuus ‘void, null, of no validity’. The sense represented in branch II, where the obj. is the contents instead of the vessel or receptacle, is a development similar to that in to empty, Fr. vider; it occurs in med.L. in medical use (evacuare humores, etc.), and hence in Fr. évacuer.]
I. To make empty.
* To remove the contents of.
1. a. trans. To empty, clear out the contents of (a vessel or receptacle). Chiefly in uses more or less technical: To empty (the stomach, bowels, or other bodily organ); to deplete (the body) by purging or vomiting (formerly also by bleeding, sudorifics, etc.); to exhaust (of air).
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary viii. 248 After you haue euacuated your body, and trussed your poyntes, kayme your heade oft. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. ix. 443 The broth of these fishes hath the name to evacuat both the bellie and the bladder. 1644 Hammond Loyal Convert 13 Physicians evacuate the Body, sometimes by Vomit, sometimes by Purge. a 1652 Brome City Wit iii. ii, I will prefer thee to..make my Bed..and evacuate my Chamberpot. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. To Rdr. (1682) 5 Evacuate such Receivers till there be no air left in them. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 99 ¶3 Had detached all his Subjects and evacuated all his Stores. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 215 The Contraction of the Lacrymal Glands, whereby they are evacuated. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. (ed. 2) 305 In all cases of poisoning, the first step is to give the antidote..and then evacuate the stomach. 1883 Standard 31 Jan. 5/4 It is possible..to evacuate them by cutting trenches through which the black ooze drains. |
b. absol. (In quot. † to let blood.)
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. v. 11, If the malady continue, it is not amiss to evacuate in a part in the fore-head. |
c. fig. in various senses. Const. of. In recent use esp. To deprive (a term, concept, etc.) of its contents or value. Cf. 4.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. x. (1611) 147 By euacuating cleane, and emptying the church of euery such rite and ceremony. a 1653 S. Ward in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xiii. 5 Hath it [faith] not sovereign virtue in it, to..evacuate the mind of all ill thoughts and passions. a 1734 North Lives I. 8, I hope to evacuate my mind of every matter and thing I know..concerning his lordship. 1825 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1836) 150 They..evacuate the term [spirit] of all its proper meaning. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxix. (1870) II. 384 Brown..evacuates the phænomenon of all that desiderates explanation. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) III. xii. 15 They sank into exhaustion, evacuated of all life and energy. 1869 Haddan Apost. Succ. i. (1879) 15 To evacuate the sacraments of grace, and to regard them as merely acted prayers. |
† d. refl. and intr. for refl. Of a body of water, etc.: To empty, discharge itself. Also fig. Obs.
| 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 311 At the further end of the lake, they found that it evacuated itself into a large river. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. iii. 23 Such griefs evacuate themselves best by that particular channel. 1817 Keatinge Trav. II. 265 Where the canal evacuates is placed a net to catch what would pass off and be lost. |
† 2. To clear (a place) of inmates, etc., (a country) of inhabitants, troops, wild beasts. Const. of.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 136 That the whole countrey might be evacuated and quite cleared from wolves. 1687 in Magd. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 81 To evacuate a whole College will be..scandalous. 1704 Addr. Norfolk in Lond. Gaz. No. 4068/2 A Great Monarch..evacuates whole Countries. 1708 Ibid. No. 4462/2 Evacuating the Kingdom of all Foreign Troops. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 171 ¶14 In France they annually evacuate their streets, and ship their prostitutes and vagabonds to their colonies. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 34/1 Her room was no sooner evacuated of such troublesome visitants, than [etc.]. |
3. a. Of an army; To relinquish the occupation of (a country, fortress, town, position). Said also of the general in command, or of the authority that orders the withdrawal.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 76 ¶5 The Army..had begun to repass the Mountains, and would shortly evacuate Savoy. a 1745 Swift (J.), The emperour..never effectually evacuated Catalonia. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt III. xxxix. 35 The French forces who had invaded and seized Turks Island must immediately evacuate the same. 1840 Macaulay Clive 21 The garrison, in a panic, evacuated the fort. 1863 Kinglake Crimea I. xxv. 433 She [Austria] summoned the Emperor Nicholas to evacuate the Principalities. 1887 Spectator 28 May 722/1 Egypt is to be evacuated within three years. |
| absol. 1881 Dillon in Times 5 Jan. 10/1 As soon as the army evacuates he can go back to his own home. |
b. gen. To quit, withdraw from (a place or apartment). Also absol.
| 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 271 The burgomasters were not slow in evacuating the premises. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. vii. viii. (1849) 337 The other guests had evacuated the apartment. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xv. 226 Request your friend Mr. Donne to evacuate. 1877 Farrar My Youth xxx. 303, I will evacuate it whenever you like. |
** To make void or worthless.
† 4. To make void, annul, deprive of force or validity. Chiefly in religious and legal phraseology. (The earliest recorded sense in Eng.) Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 5 Ceremonyes..whiche all were euacuate and made voyde by the passyon of our sauyour Jesu Chryst. 1548 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 32 Thys is the marke at the whyche the Deuyll shooteth, to evacuate the crosse of Chryste. 1563 Davidson Answ. Kennedy in Wodr. Soc. Misc. 257 To have evacuat the Reasonis of ȝour Buik. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 81 Which defect..would not euacuate a Marriage after Cohabitation and Actual Consummation. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 83 We evacuate the gift..if we vouchsafe not to accept of it. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. iv. § 45. 213 Words, which evacuate your objection. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. ii. 62 Of which lands they had been thrown out in Queen Mary's reign, and their patents from king Edward evacuated. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) I. 141 A latitude, which might evacuate the force of almost all promises. |
II. To empty out (the contents of anything).
† 5. Of the action of a medicine, vomiting, etc. (rarely of a personal agent by means of medicine): To clear out, get rid of, remove (a disease or humour). Also fig. Obs. Cf. 1.
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe iii. vii, Vnctions with oyles and oyntementes..do shortely euacuate the fulnesse. 1601 Holland Pliny xxv. v. 217 The white [Ellebore purgeth] by vomit upward, and doth evacuat the offensive humours which cause diseases. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. ii. xlvi, 314 A perfect Crisis is that which evacuates all the vitious Matter. 1715 I. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 230 The Seed of this Plant evacuates yellow Choler. a 1716 South Serm. ix. 341 (T.) Fasting and humiliation is a sovereign remedy to evacuate all spiritual distempers. 1779 Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 85 Thomson declared his [Pope's] distemper to be a dropsy, and evacuated part of the water by tincture of jalap. 1790 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (ed. 11) 553 The principal intention..is to evacuate the offending matter. |
6. a. To void, discharge (excrements, etc.) through ‘any of the excretory passages’ (J.); in mod. use only through the bowels or mouth.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 322 That part..will grow unto a head and break, evacuating great abundance of filthy matter. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 37 That round hole near her [Black Snail's] neck..out of which I have observed some salivous Matter to be evacuated. 1766 Alexander in Phil. Trans. LVII. 68, I started up..made some efforts to vomit, but evacuated nothing. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 386 About four pints of urine had been evacuated. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves x. 173 He evacuated such floods of water that the mountain torrents were full. |
| absol. 1634 J. Levett Ordering of Bees 59 They haue no Intraylls or other inward Organs, by which either to retaine or evacuat. 1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. (1672) 104 A man that doth feed upon one dish at a meal shall nothing near evacuate..so quick or readily as one that dines upon two or more. 1705 Oliver in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2178 But no body ever saw him Eat or Evacuate. |
b. In wider sense (partly transf. from the above): To discharge, throw off, vent. Also fig.
| 1622 Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 146 Their houses are made..with a laver in the toppe to evacuate the smoake when they make fire. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 20 The Lime having evacuated its putrefaction. 1816 J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 19 When a Margate hoy evacuates her cargo, the crowd on the pier is usually considerable. 1841 Fraser's Mag. XXIII. 511 Judging from sentiments which he has evacuated in some of his public spoutifications. |
† 7. a. To take out mechanically, leaving a vacuum or void; to pump out (water); to exhaust (air). Also fig. Obs. exc. in surgical use.
| 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. i, Any one would have thought that the native Propensity to rambling..should be worn out, the volatile Part be fully evacuated. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. xiii. 115 The contents of his skull must have been evacuated. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 295 As much of the brain was evacuated, as wou'd fill a hen's eggshell. 1772 Hutton Bridges 82 The water will ooze up..in too great abundance to be evacuated by the engines. 1781 Cowper Lett. 5 Mar., As much of the mould as can be taken out without disturbing the roots must be evacuated and its place supplied with fresh. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. iv. 137 The ascent of the quicksilver..is proportional to the quantity evacuated by each turn. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 112 If..the pus be evacuated externally, there will be a scar in the neck. 1877 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XII. 704 The contents of abscesses have been evacuated in the following directions. |
b. intr. for refl.
| 1643 R. O. Man's Mort. iii. 13 A Vessell..so sollid every where, that the Aire could not possibly evacuate. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 261 The Sap..turns aside and evacuates by this Aperture. |
8. a. To clear out, remove (inhabitants, inmates, or troops). † Also intr. for refl. Cf. 2.
| a 1639 Wotton in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 220 Action had pretty well evacuated the idle people, which are the stock of rapine. 1669 Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 233 The people that evacuate from us to Barbadoes. 1691 Beverley Thous. Years Kingd. Christ 23 Nor can he cease to Reign, till They [his enemies] are so Evacuated. 1698 Ludlow Mem. (1721) I. 179 The Garrison would be entirely evacuated before they could signify their Pleasure to the Army. 1872 Daily News 3 May 5/6 The wounded used to be stowed in it [the refreshment room at Meaux] till the time came conveniently to evacuate them. 1884 Ibid. 5 Mar. 5/7 He was evacuating the garrison and Egyptian inhabitants of that place [Tokar]. |
b. spec. To remove (inhabitants of an area liable to aerial bombing or other hazards) to safer surroundings. Also transf.
| 1938 Times 28 Oct. 15/2 Authorities of our large towns will wonder whether or not to evacuate more than children. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 87 Mr. Greenwood and others strongly appealed to the Prime Minister to evacuate children at once. 1941 Essays & Studies XXVI. 61 This statement it has proved impossible to check, as the Burney newspapers are evacuated and the journal is not at Bodley. |