I. ˈpilij, -lēj noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from piller to plunder (from peille rag, from Latin pilleum felt cap) + -age — more at pill (hair)
1.
a. : the act of stripping of money and goods especially during war : sack
the painting may have been ruined in a pillage or massacre — Willa Cather
plan for the pillage and enslavement of the earth — Calvin Coolidge
b. : the unlawful taking of property : robbery
2. archaic : something taken as booty : spoil
robbed all the country there about and brought the pillage home — Edmund Spenser
II. “, esp in pres part -ləj verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to strip of money or goods by open violence : loot , sack
pirates pillaged the coasts — C.L.Jones
2. : to acquire by stealing : take possession of unlawfully : purloin
gradually deserted, pillaged for building material, so that little marble remains — Claudia Cassidy
the thought process which leads to the pillaging of an idea — L.P.Beth
tobacco pillaged from a tin-full which his father had bought — Arthur Morrison
intransitive verb
: to take booty : plunder
swept down … burning and pillaging — Mary Smith
Synonyms: see ravage