evacuate

Etymology

From Latin evacuare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈvæk.ju.eɪt/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Verb

evacuate (third-person singular simple present evacuates, present participle evacuating, simple past and past participle evacuated)

1. (transitive) To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from

   the soldiers evacuated the fortress

   The firefighters told us to evacuate the area as the flames approached.

   • 1757, Edmund Burke, The Abridgement of the History of England:

     The Norwegians were forced to evacuate the country.

2. To cause (or help) to leave or withdraw from.

   The firefighters decided to evacuate all the inhabitants from the street.

   • 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:

     Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese.

3. To make empty; to empty out; to remove the contents of, including to create a vacuum.

   The scientist evacuated the chamber before filling it with nitrogen.

4. (figurative) To make empty; to deprive.
   • 1825, James Marsh, Preliminary Essay to Aids to Reflection:

     Evacuate the Scriptures of their most important doctrines.

5. To remove; to eject; to void; to discharge, as the contents of a vessel, or of the bowels.
   • 1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization‎, Edinburgh, London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 1:

     In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; to assimilate a part; to evacuate what is redundant or useless; [...]

6. To make void; to nullify; to vacate.

   to evacuate a contract or marriage

   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

     it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and actual consummation