pillage

[pil-ij]

verb (used with object), pil·laged, pil·lag·ing.

to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence, as in war; plunder: The barbarians pillaged every conquered city.

to take as booty.

verb (used without object), pil·laged, pil·lag·ing.

to rob with open violence; take booty: Soldiers roamed the countryside, pillaging and killing.

noun

the act of plundering, especially in war.

booty or spoil.

Origin of pillage

1350–1400; Middle English pilage (see pill³, -age), modeled on Middle French pillage (derivative of piller to pillage, orig., to abuse, mistreat, tear, of uncertain origin)

Related formspil·lag·er, nounun·pil·laged, adjective

Synonyms for pillage

1. rob, sack, spoil, despoil, rape. 4. rapine, depredation, spoliation. 5. plunder.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pillaged

maraud, pilfer, ravage, desecrate, loot, ransack, desolate, rob, sack, trespass, appropriate, strip, devastate, nab, arrogate, ruin, thieve, purloin, waste, invade

Examples from the Web for pillaged

Contemporary Examples of pillaged

The charge that did him in was minor compared with the money he pillaged, but it nonetheless sunk him.
Could Blankfein Face Prison?
Nomi Prins
August 23, 2011

Historical Examples of pillaged

He was a bad manager, however, and after his wife's death he was pillaged by every one.
A Zola Dictionary
J. G. Patterson
They were the roses of the mill; with Therese's assistance he must have pillaged the bushes in the enclosure.
Fruitfulness
Emile Zola
Quite a few castles and small towns were taken and pillaged.
Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight
Mathew Joseph Holt
In a decade of our time, we had pillaged Kygpton of every particle of Sthalreh.
Raiders of the Universes
Donald Wandrei
A pilot, calling at his dwelling, found it pillaged and desolate.
The History of Tasmania , Volume II (of 2)
John West

British Dictionary definitions for pillaged

pillage

verb

to rob (a town, village, etc) of (booty or spoils), esp during a war

noun

the act of pillaging

something obtained by pillaging; booty

Derived Formspillager, noun

Word Origin for pillage

C14: via Old French from piller to despoil, probably from peille rag, from Latin pīleus felt cap

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pillaged

pillage

late 14c., "act of plundering" (especially in war), from Old French pilage (14c.) "plunder," from pillier "to plunder, loot, ill-treat," possibly from Vulgar Latin *piliare "to plunder," probably from a figurative use of Latin pilare "to strip of hair," perhaps also meaning "to skin" (cf. figurative extension of verbs pluck, fleece), from pilus "a hair" (see pile (n.3)).

pillage

"plunder, despoil," 1590s, from pillage (n.). Related: Pillaged; pillaging. The earlier verb in English was simply pill (late Old English), which probably is from Latin pilare.