pillaging


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Related to pillaging: looted, plundering

pil·lage

 (pĭl′ĭj)
v. pil·laged, pil·lag·ing, pil·lag·es
v.tr.
1. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.
2. To take as spoils.
v.intr.
To take spoils by force.
n.
1. The act of pillaging.
2. Something pillaged; spoils.

[From Middle English, booty, from Old French, from piller, to take (by ruse), plunder, manhandle, from Vulgar Latin *pīliāre, perhaps originally meaning "to deprive (someone) of his felt cap" and derived from Latin pilleus, pīleus, felt cap (given to an ancient Roman freedman as a symbol of his emancipation); perhaps akin to Greek pīlos, felt.]

pil′lag·er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pillaging

(ˈpɪlɪdʒɪŋ)
n
the act of robbing a town, village, etc of booty or spoils, esp during a war
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.pillaging - the act of stealing valuable things from a placepillaging - the act of stealing valuable things from a place; "the plundering of the Parthenon"; "his plundering of the great authors"
aggression, hostility - violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked
banditry - the practice of plundering in gangs
rapine - the act of despoiling a country in warfare
looting, robbery - plundering during riots or in wartime
despoilation, despoilment, despoliation, spoilation, spoliation, spoil - the act of stripping and taking by force
ravaging, devastation - plundering with excessive damage and destruction
depredation, predation - an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding
sack - the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter; "the sack of Rome"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

pillaging

[ˈpɪlɪdʒɪŋ] npillages mpl
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
References in classic literature ?
They repeated to each other, while pillaging his hotel, that he was sent to Gigelli by the king to reconstruct his lost fortunes; that the treasures of Africa would be equally divided between the admiral and the king of France; that these treasures consisted in mines of diamonds, or other fabulous stones; the gold and silver mines of Mount Atlas did not even obtain the honor of being named.
The preparations being now completed, and everything ready for the attack, those who were pillaging and destroying in the other rooms were called down to the workshop.
Tomorrow I may be pillaging your friends as of yore."
In the majority of such cases, the neighbors did not meddle with the matter unless the pillaging extended to themselves.
"I was very ferocious soldier in the Ottoman Empire, which meant a lot of pillaging and a lot of killing," he says.
Alexander of Macedon invaded the areas now comprising Pakistan in 326 BC, fought several battles, destroyed some towns and killed a few thousand people but did not indulge in pillaging these lands for booty.
So, I believe thanks are in order for all the pillaging of the stoke, major air, steady stream of laminated cess slides on the wall.
Ahmadi-nejad's picture of Western imperialists pillaging the wealth of the rest of the world was nothing new for him.
Higher postage costs to fund bigger salaries at the top while posties receive the sack will be the pillaging of a treasured national service.
Summary: Looters have stormed a supermarket in Argentina, pillaging vast quantities of goods, including televisions, food, clothes and bicycles.
Sure, his family and everyone in the village are Vikings but not like their fierce pillaging forefathers; why, his own father is a mere plumber, a fixer of blocked toilets.
It is encouraging and facilitating the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and actively assisting their pillaging by private actors.