expel, v.
(ɛkˈspɛl)
Forms: 4–5 expelle, 6–7 expell, 6– expel.
[ad. L. expell-ĕre, f. ex- out + pellĕre to drive, thrust: cf. compel. OF. had espellir, and in 15th c. expeller.]
1. trans. To drive or thrust out; to eject by force. Const. from (rarely out of) also with double obj. (by omission of from). a. With obj. a person, etc.: To eject, dislodge by force from a position; to banish from, compel to quit, a place or country.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xx. 446 Reynawde and his brethern were thus expelled out of it [mountalban]. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 819/2 God..expelled those heretikes and scismatikes out of heauen. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 838 The Apostles receiued power from the Lord..that they should expell and cast them [the devils] out. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 8 The Bœotians..expelld Arne by the Thessalians seated themselues in that Country [Bœotia]. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 266 Such a State takes Care..to Expel him their Dominions by proclamation. 1749 West tr. Pindar's Olympic Odes xii. 36 Sedition's Civil Broils Expell'd thee from thy native Crete. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xi. 229 He sent..two knights..to expel them the convent. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. Georgia 31 Bidding the elder boys..expel the poultry. |
b. With a material thing as
obj.: To drive out from a receptacle, etc. by mechanical force; to discharge, send off (
e.g. a bullet from a gun,
† an arrow from a bow); to drive off or dislodge (a substance) from a chemical compound, mixture, solution, etc. Also,
† to expel forth.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 80 The Shot is..expelled with no other thing, than by the Air's exaltation. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iii. (1723) 151 It [water] is usualy expelled forth in vast Quantities. a 1700 Dryden (J.), The virgin huntress was not slow T'expel the shaft from her contracted bow. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art i. 74 Expelling the water into the bason. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 394 Alcohol..absorbs about its own weight of nitrous gas, which cannot afterwards be expelled by heat. 1838 ― Chem. Org. Bodies 168 Not capable of being expelled by a stronger base. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea xi. §512 If still more heat be applied..the air will be entirely expelled. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 77 The matter..thus expelled from the powder by heat. |
c. Of the body or its organs: To cast out, eject (the contents, any foreign substance, excrements, etc.);
= exclude v. 7. Also said of the action of drugs, etc.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1893 The vertu expulsif, or animal..Ne may the venym voyden ne expelle. 1542 Borde Dyetary iv. (1870) 237 To expell..all corrupt and contagyous ayre. 1547 ― Brev. Health §356 Vnto the tyme the matter be expelled..out of the throte. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 395 Chervil expells wind. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds (ed. 2) II. 216 Some months after, a piece of cloth was expelled, till which time the wound kept open. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 338 The child had been very recently expelled from the womb. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 519/2 There is an organ for..expelling an inky fluid. |
| absol. 1626 Bacon Sylva §36 Other parts of the Body..are moued to expell by Consent. |
d. With immaterial object. In
Math. formerly
= eliminate.
| c 1500 Lancelot 1271 Hir cusynace hath don al at she mycht..to expel that thing out of hir thocht. 1540 Coverdale Fruitf. Less. i. Wks. I. 259 To expel from us all pride and presumptuousness. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 76 You, brother mine, that..Expelld remorse, and nature. 1611 Donne Ignat. Conclave (1635) 7 He gloried of having expelled an old Religion. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. ii. 14 These hardships quite expell'd the thoughts of an Enemy. 1828 Hutton Course Math. II. 49 note, The quantity c..must be expelled from this formula. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. §46 (1875) 160 Our ability to expel the idea from consciousness. |
2. To turn out, eject (a person) from a society, community, etc. Const. as in 1.
| 1534 Anne Boleyn in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 116 II. 46 Richard Herman..was..put and expelled from his fredome and felowshipe in the Englishe house there. 1648 Hunting of Fox 11 Yet were they..expell'd the University. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 215 His Scholar striving to expel all Poets his poetic Commonweal. 1769 Junius Lett. xvi. 69 The house of Commons have a right to expel one of their own members. 1820 Southey Life Wesley II. 497 Whoever acted contrary..should be expelled the Society. 1884 Pae Eustace 57 You are expelled from the house which you have indelibly disgraced. |
† 3. To reject from attention or consideration; to refuse.
Obs.| 1575 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 365 The common welth are..utterly expeld and let goe for lacke of loking to. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 95 Would you not poor fellowship expel, Myself would offer you t'accompany. 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 5 The said day the Committie expelles the resounes preponit be Borge and Johne Gordoun. 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 196 Each fierce Logician, still expelling Locke. |
† 4. ‘To keep off, exclude, keep out’ (J.).
Obs.| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 239 Oh, that that earth [Cæsar's dead body], which kept the world in awe, Should patch a Wall, t'expell the winters flaw. |
Hence
exˈpelled ppl. a.,
exˈpelling vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 1557 819/2 Receiuing of synne is expelling of grace. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (1564) 69 b, The expellyng of the second byrth. 1552 Huloet, Expelled, expulsus. 1632 tr. Bruel's Praxis M. 376 These stirre vp the expelling faculty. 1744 Berkeley Siris §84 This expelling diuretic virtue consisted rather in the salts than the resin. 1774 Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 105 Hippias, the expelled tyrant of Athens. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 293 How get you an equal pressure of the expelling force? |