evacuate
[ih-vak-yoo-eyt]
- to leave empty; vacate.
- to remove (persons or things) from a place, as a dangerous place or disaster area, for reasons of safety or protection: to evacuate the inhabitants of towns in the path of a flood.
- to remove persons from (a city, town, building, area, etc.) for reasons of safety: to evacuate the embassy after a bomb threat.
- Military.
- to remove (troops, wounded soldiers, civilians, etc.) from a war zone, combat area, etc.
- to withdraw from or quit (a town, fort, etc., that has been occupied).
- Physiology. to discharge or eject as through the excretory passages, especially from the bowels.
- to deprive: Fear evacuated their minds of reason.
- to produce a vacuum in.
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- to leave a place because of military or other threats.
- to void; defecate.
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Origin of evacuate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
departexpeldisplaceremoveleavevacatewithdrawabandondischargedesertrelinquishquithightailejectdecampforsakeExamples from the Web for evacuate
Contemporary Examples
But where do you evacuate to, when the world is about to end?
The Stacks: How The Berlin Wall Inspired John le Carré’s First MasterpieceJohn le Carré
November 8, 2014
De Merode was ordered to evacuate the national park he served at the time.
He was helping to evacuate people from the stricken North Tower when the second plane hit.
There is no plan as of yet to evacuate Dr. Brantly to a Western facility, Isaacs said.
Earlier this month, the friendliest of them, 31-year-old Denis, told us they were given very short notice to evacuate Sloviansk.
Historical Examples
It'll take all of forty minutes to evacuate, and the Mercutians may be on us by then.
Slaves of MercuryNat Schachner
On November 11, 1914, the Serbians were compelled to evacuate this city.
On the other hand, they were forced to evacuate some of their positions east of Kiselin.
Remember, Dr. Harris, we've got to evacuate the city first of all!
One-ShotJames Benjamin Blish
The despatch reached the French just as they were preparing to evacuate Cairo.
At Aboukir and AcreGeorge Alfred Henty
evacuate
- (also intr) to withdraw or cause to withdraw from (a place of danger) to a place of greater safety
- to make empty by removing the contents of
- (also intr) physiol
- to eliminate or excrete (faeces); defecate
- to discharge (any waste product) from (a part of the body)
- (tr) to create a vacuum in (a bulb, flask, reaction vessel, etc)
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin ēvacuāre to void, from vacuus empty
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for evacuate
v.
1520s, from Latin evacuatus, past participle of evacuare "to empty, make void, nullify," used by Pliny in reference to the bowels, used figuratively in Late Latin for "clear out," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + vacuus "empty" (see vacuum).
Earliest sense in English is medical. Meaning "remove inhabitants to safer ground" is from 1934. Replaced Middle English evacuen (c.1400). Related: Evacuated; evacuating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
evacuate
(ĭ-văk′yōō-āt′)- To empty or remove the contents of.
- To excrete or discharge waste matter, especially of the bowels.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.