Syn. — To strip; deprive; rob; bereave; rifle.
Despoil
(De*spoil"), n. Spoil. [Obs.] Wolsey.
Despoiler
(De*spoil"er) n. One who despoils.
Despoilment
(De*spoil"ment) n. Despoliation. [R.]
Despoliation
(De*spo`li*a"tion) n. [L. despoliatio. See Despoil.] A stripping or plundering; spoliation.
Bailey.
Despond
(De*spond") v. i. [imp. & p. p. Desponded; p. pr. & vb. n. Desponding.] [L. despondere,
desponsum, to promise away, promise in marriage, give up, to lose (courage); de- + spondere to promise
solemnly. See Sponsor.] To give up the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose
all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view.
I should despair, or at least despond.
Scott's Letters.
Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty.
Locke.
We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations
of our national power still stand strong.
D. Webster. Syn. — Despond, Dispair. Despair implies a total loss of hope, which despond does not, at least in
every case; yet despondency is often more lasting than despair, or than desperation, which impels to
violent action.
Despond
(De*spond") n. Despondency. [Obs.]
The slough of despond.
Bunyan. Despondence
(De*spond"ence) n. Despondency.
The people, when once infected, lose their relish for happiness [and] saunter about with looks of despondence.
Goldsmith. Despondency
(De*spond"en*cy) n. The state of desponding; loss of hope and cessation of effort; discouragement; depression
or dejection of the mind.
The unhappy prince seemed, during some days, to be sunk in despondency.
Macaulay. Despondent
(De*spond"ent) a. [L. despondens, -entis, p. pr. of despondre.] Marked by despondence; given
to despondence; low-spirited; as, a despondent manner; a despondent prisoner. — De*spond"ent*ly,
adv.
Desponder
(De*spond"er) n. One who desponds.
Despondingly
(De*spond"ing*ly), adv. In a desponding manner.
Desponsage
(De*spon"sage) n. [From L. desponsus, p. p. See Despond.] Betrothal. [Obs.]
Ethelbert . . . went peaceably to King Offa for desponsage of Athilrid, his daughter.
Foxe. Desponsate
(De*spon"sate) v. t. [L. desponsatus, p. p. of desponsare, intens. of despondere to
betroth. See Despond.] To betroth. [Obs.] Johnson.