Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To strip, as of clothes.
  • transitive verb To deprive, as of rights or property; dispossess.
  • transitive verb To free of; rid.
  • transitive verb To sell off or otherwise dispose of (a subsidiary company or an investment).
  • transitive verb Law To devest.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To strip of clothes, arms, or equipage; hence, to strip of anything that surrounds or attends; despoil: opposed to invest: as, to divest one of his reputation.
  • To strip by some definite or legal process; deprive: as, to divest a person of his rights or privileges; to divest one of title or property.
  • To strip off; throw off.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To unclothe; to strip, as of clothes, arms, or equipage; -- opposed to invest.
  • transitive verb Fig.: To strip; to deprive; to dispossess
  • transitive verb (Law) See Devest.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, archaic To undress, disrobe.
  • verb transitive To strip, deprive, or dispossess (someone) of something (such as a right, passion, privilege, or prejudice).
  • verb transitive To sell off or be rid of through sale, especially of a subsidiary

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb remove (someone's or one's own) clothes
  • verb reduce or dispose of; cease to hold (an investment)
  • verb deprive of status or authority
  • verb take away possessions from someone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by Medieval Latin dīvestīre, to undress) of devest.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of devest, after Latin divestire.

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