▪ I. † deˈpose, n. Obs.
Also 5 depos, Sc. depois.
[f. depose v.]
1. The state of being laid up or committed to some one for safe keeping; custody, keeping, charge; concr. that which is so laid up, a deposit.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 218 For God..Hath set him but a litel while That he shall regne upon depose. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas ii. xxii. (1554) 58 b, The sayd herd..[and] His wyfe..This yong child toke in their depos. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 119 Depose, depositum. 1488 Inv. in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 390 The gold and silver..jowellis and uther stuff..that he had in depois the tyme of his deceis. |
2. Deposition from office or authority.
| 1559 Ferrers in Mirr. Mag., Rich. II vii, To helpe the Percyes plying my depose. |
▪ II. depose, v.
(dɪˈpəʊz)
Also 6 Sc. depois.
[a. F. dépose-r (12th c. in Littré), f. de- I. 1 + poser to place, put down:—Rom. posāre = late L. pausāre to cease, lie down, lay down, etc.: see pose, repose. Through form-association with inflexions of L. pōnĕre, posui, positum, and contact of sense, this -poser came to be treated as synonymous with OF. -pondre (:—L. pōnĕre) and took its place in the compounds, so that déposer is now used instead of OF. depondre, L. dēpōnĕre to depose, and associated in idea with deposit, deposition, depositor, etc., which had no original connexion with depose.]
1. trans. To lay down, put down (anything material); to deposit. arch.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 460 Take leves..of Citur tree..And into must..Depose, and close or faste it closed se. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 223 b, Saynt Peter & Saynt Paule..by martyrdome deposed there the tabernacles of theyr bodyes. 1621 B. Jonson Gypsies Metamorph., Face of a rose, I pray thee depose Some small piece of silver. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 33 The ashes of Sacrifices..were carefully carried out by the Priests, and deposed in a clean field. 1718 Prior Solomon ii. 607 The youthful Band depose their glitt'ring Arms. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) III. vi. iii. 419 A paper which he solemnly deposed on the high altar. |
† b. To put, lay, or place (somewhere) for safe keeping; to place or put in some one's charge.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 18 We must depose and lay foorth ourselues, both bodie, and goods, life, and time..into the hands of the prince. a 1612 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 108 [Josephus] sayes, our Soule is, particula Dei, and deposed and committed in trust to us. 1750 Carte Hist. Eng. II. 643 [He] left them [writings] in the monastery where they had been deposed. |
† c. Of fluids: To deposit (as a sediment). Obs.
| 1758 Huxham in Phil. Trans. I. 524 The urine was..turbid, and..deposed a great deal of lateritious sediment. 1816 Accum Chem. Tests (1818) 246 A blue precipitate will be deposed. |
† 2. fig. To put away, lay aside (a feeling, quality, character, office, etc.). Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 73 Depose or put from you the olde man..and be ye renewed in the spiryte of your mynde. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 139 Being sodden..they depose all their hurt. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. ii. lxv, They deposed not their anger till they had fined him in a sum of money. 1677 Govt. Venice 50 The General..can hardly bring himself to depose an Authority that he can so easily keep. |
3. To put down from office or authority; esp. to put down from sovereignty, to dethrone. (The earliest and still the prevailing sense.)
| c 1300 K. Alis. 7822 Theo kyng dude him [a justise] anon depose. c 1470 Harding Chron. cxcvi, The parliament then for his misgouernaunce Deposed him [Richard II]. 1535 Coverdale Dan. v. 20 He was deposed from his kyngly trone, and his magesty was taken from him. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 157 The Aldermen that before were deposed, were agayne restored to their wardes and offices. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xl. 254 In deposing the High Priest..they deposed that peculiar Government of God. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. 10 Mar., The late emperor..was deposed by his brother. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 23 Shortly after the battle of Hastings, Saxon prelates and abbots were violently deposed. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 108 Sir Thomas More..declared as his opinion that parliament had power to depose kings if it so pleased. |
b. gen. To put down, bring down, lower (from a position or estate). Obs. exc. as fig. from prec.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 514 Riȝt so ȝe clerkes for ȝowre coueityse, ar longe, Shal þei..ȝowre pryde depose. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 77/3, I that am an only sone to my fader and moder I shold depose theyr olde age with heuynes and sorow to helle. 1671 Milton P.R. i. 413 He before had sat Among the prime in splendour, now deposed, Ejected, emptied. 1873 Holland A. Bonnic. xviii. 281, I had never seen Mrs. Belden so thoroughly deposed from her self-possession. |
† 4. a. To take away, deprive a person of (authority, etc.); also to remove (a burden or obligation; opp. to impose). Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 200 In sory plite..he lay, The corone on his hede deposed. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 192 You may my Glories and my state depose, But not my Griefes, still am I King of those. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. iv. iii. 195 Princes know well to impose exactions, and know not how to depose them. |
† b. To divest, deprive, dispossess (a person of something that enhances). Obs.
| 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 29 If a king shulde depose himself of his diademe or crowne and royal estat. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 98 a, He was content to depose him[self] of such a trouble as to be a soueraigne. 1649 Lovelace Poems 10 Depose your finger of that Ring, And Crowne mine with't awhile. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 257 It would be very preposterous to believe, that the Peers would depose themselves of their Hereditary Rights. |
5. To testify, bear witness; to testify to, attest; esp. to give evidence upon oath in a court of law, to make a deposition. a. techn. (a) trans. with simple obj. (usually pronominal).
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) 219 And blynde was borne undowtedlye And that we will depose. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture 43 And that we will depose vpon a book. a 1626 Bacon (J.), To depose the yearly rent or valuation of lands. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vii. 340 Each much deposes; hear them in their turn. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1347 And what discretion proved, I find deposed At Vire, confirmed by his own words. |
(b) with obj. clause (or obj. and inf.).
| 1562 Child-Marriages (E.E.T.S.) 106 They cold not depose her to be of honest name. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 20 a, [He] offred to depose that he knew that one of the prisoners..was otherwhere then was sayd in his inditement. a 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 396 The earls of Clare, Anglesey and some others..deposed what Lord Howard had said. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 236 The workman..deposed, that he carried the..Vase..to the furnace. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 231 It was deposed that La Barre and D'Etallonde had passed within thirty yards of the sacred procession without removing their hats. |
(c) intr. (for or against a person, to († for) or against a thing or fact.)
| c 1400 [see deposing vbl. n. 2.] |
| 1542–3 Act 34–5 Hen. VIII, c. 1 Other witnes..of as good..credence as those be whiche deposed against them. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. xi. (1580) 74 Pilate could not but thus depose for his innocence, saying, I finde no faulte in hym. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. ii. 26 Then seeing 'twas he that made you to depose, Your Oath..is vaine. 1623 T. Scot Highw. God 57 The honest Heathen or Turke, for whose truth the Christian dares depose. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 416 He dreaded lest the spectators of his dexterity should depose against his own witchcraft. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xix, The shot, the finding of the body, the subsequent discovery of the gun, were rapidly deposed to. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. iii. x, He deposed to having fastened up the house at eleven o'clock. |
b. gen. To testify, bear witness, affirm, assert.
| 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 211/2 Than should either the newe proues depose the same that the other did before, or els thei shoulde depose the contrary. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. Pref. A b, [I] have knowne the Author from both our infancies, and..can depose in what fashion he effecteth his labours. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. 11 We shall not with Epigenes in Pliny, depose that this Art had its being from Eternity. a 1840 J. H. Newman Paroch. Serm. Rom. iv. 23 When our memory deposes otherwise. |
† c. To promise formally upon oath; to swear (to do something). Obs.
| 1610 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 122 You shall depose to be true liege man unto the Queene's Majestie. |
† 6. causally. To examine on oath, to take the evidence or deposition of; to cite as a witness, call to give evidence. (Cf. to swear a witness.) pass. To give evidence, testify, bear witness. Obs.
| 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 9 §5 No Person..so convicted..to be..received as a Witness to be deposed and sworn in any Court. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 30. 1623 Massinger Dk. Milan iv. i, Grant thou hadst a thousand witnesses To be deposed they heard it. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. xxxvi. (1647) 225 S. Cyprian is the man whom I would choose..to depose in this cause. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ix. 69 The said bishop got leave for certain of the clergy to be deposed on his behalf. |
† 7. To set, put, or lay down in writing. Obs.
| 1668 Excellency of Pen & Pencil A iij, This little Tract..where the requisites for Limning in Water-Colours are deposed..the Colours particularly nominated [etc.]. 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 287, I put here the Differences by me computed..and deposed according to the Order of the Excesses. |