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demolish

verb
/dᵻˈmɒl.ɪʃ/

Etymology

Attested since the 16th century; from Middle French demoliss-, the stem of some conjugated forms of the verb demolir (“to destroy”, “to tear down”), from Latin dēmōlior (“to tear down”). Displaced native Old English tōweorpan (literally “to throw apart”).

  1. derived from tōweorpan — “to throw apart”
  2. derived from dēmōlior — “to tear down”
  3. derived from demoliss-

Definitions

  1. To destroy (buildings, etc.), especially in a planned or intentional fashion.

    • They demolished the old mill and put up four townhouses.
    • The station did not have a long life, as it was demolished between 1884 and 1888 to make room for a new and larger station which forms part of the present Liverpool Exchange Station.
    • The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.

  2. To defeat, refute, discredit, or consume utterly (as a theory, belief or opponent).

    • Andrew Johnson scored a hat-trick as Fulham demolished London rivals Queens Park Rangers to win their Premier League fixture of the season.
    • The table opposite me is occupied by a young couple with a table full of alcohol and snacks. In a role reversal, he is drinking Smirnoff Ice while she steadily demolishes a six-pack of lager!

  3. To devour

    To devour; to eat up

    • “Thanks, Raj.” Frank was too hungry to worry about Raj’s gob gloop on the bar, and happily demolished it in seconds.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for demolish. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA