verb (used with object), re·moved, re·mov·ing.
- to move from a place or position; take away or off: to remove the napkins from the table.
- to take off or shed (an article of clothing): to remove one’s jacket.
- to move or shift to another place or position; transfer: She removed the painting to another wall.
- to put out; send away: to remove a tenant.
- to dismiss or force from a position or office; discharge: They removed him for embezzling.
- to take away, withdraw, or eliminate: to remove the threat of danger.
- to get rid of; do away with; put an end to: to remove a stain; to remove the source of disease.
- to kill; assassinate.
verb (used without object), re·moved, re·mov·ing.
- to move from one place to another, especially to another locality or residence: We remove to Newport early in July.
- to go away; depart; disappear.
noun
- the act of removing.
- a removal from one place, as of residence, to another.
- the distance by which one person, place, or thing is separated from another: to see something at a remove.
- a mental distance from the reality of something as a result of psychological detachment or lack of experience: to criticize something at a remove.
- a degree of difference, as that due to descent, transmission, etc.: a folk survival, at many removes, of a druidic rite.
- a step or degree, as in a graded scale.
- British. a promotion of a pupil to a higher class or division at school.
verb (mainly tr)
- to take away and place elsewhere
- to displace (someone) from office; dismiss
- to do away with (a grievance, cause of anxiety, etc); abolish
- to cause (dirt, stains, or anything unwanted) to disappear; get rid of
- euphemistic to assassinate; kill
- (intr) formal to change the location of one’s home or place of businessthe publishers have removed to Mayfair
noun
- the act of removing, esp (formal) a removal of one’s residence or place of work
- the degree of difference separating one person, thing, or condition from anotheronly one remove from madness
- British (in certain schools) a class or form, esp one for children of about 14 years, designed to introduce them to the greater responsibilities of a more senior position in the school
- (at a formal dinner, formerly) a dish to be changed while the rest of the course remains on the table
early 14c., “move, take away, dismiss,” from Old French removoir “move, stir; leave, depart; take away,” from Latin removere “move back or away, take away, put out of view, subtract,” from re- “back, away” (see re-) + movere “to move” (see move (v.)). Related: Removed; removing.
1550s, “act of removing,” from remove (v.). Sense of “distance or space by which any thing is removed from another” is attested from 1620s.