I. rə̇ˈmüv, rēˈ- verb
Etymology: Middle English removen, remeven, from Old French remouvoir, removoir, from Latin removēre, from re- + movēre to move — more at move
transitive verb
1. : to change or shift the location, position, station, or residence of (as in order to reestablish) : shift , transfer — usually used with to and specified place
remove the troops to the front
remove the family to the seashore
specifically : to transfer (a pending case) for original hearing or trial from one court to another in the same or another jurisdiction — compare removal of causes
2. : to move by lifting, pushing aside, or taking away or off : put aside, apart, or elsewhere
removes his hat in the house
remove a book from a shelf to examine it
3. : to force (one) to leave a place or to go away: as
a. : to dismiss from office
b. : assassinate
c. : to take away by death
4. : to get rid of as though by moving : eradicate , eliminate
remove the causes of poverty
intransitive verb
1. : to change location, station, or residence
remove from their town house to the country
2. : to go away : disappear , depart
3. : to be capable of being removed
a bottle cap that removes easily
Synonyms: see move
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : removal ; specifically : the transfer of one's business or of one's domestic belongings from one location or dwelling house to another : move
b. archaic : the act of removing a horse's shoe to dress the hoof
c. Britain : a change of dishes during a meal
d. Britain : promotion of a pupil to the next form
2.
a. : a distance (as a space, time, or divergence of state) separating one person or thing from another : distance apart or away
at a short remove upon the same platform was an officer — Ambrose Bierce
her poems … work best at a slight remove from the personal — Richard Wilbur
b.
(1) : a degree distant (as in derivation or relationship) : a grade or stage of separation from the immediate or direct : a step apart or away
such a popular song … simply repeats, at many removes, a motif of the conventional behavior of the courtly lover — R.A.Hall b.1911
a primary and intense experience … which men at best know only at second remove — M.F.A.Montagu
— compare firsthand
(2) : a degree of lineal consanguinity : a generation removed
only at one remove from the villager — G.M.Trevelyan
the sixteen sire lines … of these famous racehorses at the fourth remove — Dennis Craig
3. obsolete : absence
4. : an intermediate form between two others in an English school