depose

Recorded since c.1300, from Middle English, from Old French deposer, from de- (“down”) + poser (“to put, place”). Deposition (1494 in the legal sense) belongs to deposit, but that related word and depose became thoroughly confused.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈpəʊz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /diˈpoʊz/, /dəˈpoʊz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊz

depose (third-person singular simple present deposes, present participle deposing, simple past and past participle deposed)

1. (literally, transitive) To put down; to lay down; to deposit; to lay aside; to put away.
   • 1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC:

     additional mud deposed upon it

2. (transitive) To remove (a leader) from (high) office without killing (them).

   A deposed monarch may go into exile as pretender to the lost throne, hoping to be restored in a subsequent revolution.

   • 1643, William Prynne, “(please specify |part=1 to 4, or Appendix)”, in The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes: […], London: […] Michael Sparke Senior, →OCLC:

     a tyrant over his subjects, and therefore worthy to be deposed

   • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 8:35 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 November 2024:

     The 1840s saw a further escalation, with new laws treating most slave ships captured as pirates, and a number of military expeditions being mounted to destroy slaving centres on the African coast and depose, or even kill, remaining local kings and chiefs who had refused to end slavery in their territory.

3. (law, intransitive) To give evidence or testimony, especially in response to interrogation during a deposition.
4. (law, transitive) To interrogate and elicit testimony from during a deposition, typically by a lawyer.

   After we deposed the claimant we had enough evidence to avoid a trial.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Depose him in the justice of his cause.

5. (intransitive) To take or swear an oath.
6. To testify; to bear witness; to claim; to assert; to affirm.
   • c. 1598, Francis Bacon, The Office of Compositions for Alienations:

     to depose the yearly rent or valuation of lands

• depone (“testify”)

• restore

• deponent
• deposit
• deposition
• depositio de bene esse

• Speedo, epodes, speedo

From depos (“since, afterward”) +‎ -e (“adverb”).

• IPA^(key): /de.ˈpo.se/, /dɛ.ˈpɔ.sɛ/

depose

1. since, from that time, thence, thenceforth

• depos ke (“since”)

depose

1. third-person singular past historic of deporre