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unpeople. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
unpeople, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
unpeople in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
unpeople you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
un- + people
Noun
unpeople
- plural of unperson
Verb
unpeople (third-person singular simple present unpeoples, present participle unpeopling, simple past and past participle unpeopled)
- (transitive) To deprive of inhabitants; to depopulate.
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:Let him bring millions infinite of men,
Unpeopling weſterne Affrica and Greece:
Yet we aſſure vs of the victorie.
c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 78:He shall have every day a several greeting, / Or I'll unpeople Egypt.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 164:This / ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with / continency.
1785, William Cowper, “Book III. The Garden.”, in The Task, a Poem, , London: J Johnson; , →OCLC, page 133:'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.