[ban.ish] vt [ME, fr. MF baniss-, stem of banir, of Gmc origin; akin to OHG bannan to command--more at ban] (14c) 1: to require by authority to leave a country
2: to drive out or remove from a home or place of usual resort or continuance
3: to clear away: dispel "his discovery ~es anxiety --Stringfellow Barr" -- ban.ish.er n -- ban.ish.ment n syn banish, exile, deport, transport mean to remove by authority from a state or country. banish implies compulsory removal from a country not necessarily one's own "banished for seditious activities". exile may imply compulsory removal or an enforced or voluntary absence from one's own country "a writer who exiled himself for political reasons". deport implies sending out of the country an alien who has illegally entered or whose presence is judged inimical to the public welfare "illegal aliens will be deported". transport implies sending a convicted criminal to an overseas penal colony "a convict who was transported to Australia".