ikˈspel, ek- transitive verb
( expelled ; expelled ; expelling ; expels )
Etymology: Middle English expellen, from Latin expellere, from ex- ex- (I) + pellere to drive — more at felt
1. : to force out from or as if from a receptacle : drive out : cast out : eject , dislodge
the gigantic explosion … expelled some four and a half cubic miles of pumice — Howel Williams
filled her lungs with a long inhalation and expelled the smoke — B.A.Williams
superstitions become lodged in our mental constitutions and sometimes are modified or expelled only with the greatest difficulty — F.A.Geldard
2. : to drive away from a place or country : compel to leave
citizens organized vigilante committees and expelled or subdued the undesirables — American Guide Series: Tennessee
specifically : deport
an alien within a deportable class had to be expelled — Harvard Law Review
3. : to cut off from membership in or the privileges of an institution or society
the boy attended school but was expelled for fighting with his teacher — A.F.Harlow
4. obsolete : to dismiss from attention or consideration : refuse
would you not poor fellowship expel , myself would offer you to accompany — Edmund Spenser
5. obsolete : to keep out : exclude
O, that that earth … should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw — Shakespeare
6. obsolete : discharge , shoot
was not slow to expel the shaft from her contracted bow — John Dryden
Synonyms: see eject