depart

present singular third person departs · participle present departing · participle past departed · past departed · first person past singular departed · archaic present second person singular departest · past second person singular departed · archaic past second person singular departedst · present singular third person departs · archaic present singular third person departeth · past singular third person departed · past plural departed · past subjunctive departed · participle present departing · participle past departed

1. intransitiveTo leave.

   The glory is departed from Israel.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 4:21

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   […] he that hath no ſtomacke to this feaſt, Let him depart, […]

   1599 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   With very little excuse for departing so abruptly, Ralph left him, […]

   1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Ralph Nickleby, baffled by his Nephew in his late Design, hatches a scheme of Retaliation which accident suggests to him, and takes into his Counsels a tried Auxiliary”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 558

   She came in now, but to the closet; from it she took a simple skirt and blouse. Picking up her underclothing she departed, obviously to dress somewhere else.

   1964, Philip K. Dick, “NINE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 112

   The government maintains that if its regulations are too stiff, British bankers will leave the country. It's true that they have been threatening to depart in droves, but the obvious answer is: "Sod off then."

   2009 September 7, George Monbiot, The Guardian

   Synonyms: leave

2. intransitiveTo set out on a journey.

   Elizabeth saw her friend depart for Port-Breedy, […]

   1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter V, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 73–74

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   And soo she receyued hym vpon suffysaunt seurte / so alle her hurtes were wel restored of al that she coude complayne / and thenne he departed vnto the Courte of kyne Arthur / and there openly the reed knyghte of the reed laundes putte hym in the mercy of syre Launcelot and syr Gawayne

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII

   Distant acclamations, words of command yelled out, and a roll of drums on the jetty greeted the departing general.

   1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC, part second (The Isabels), page 138

3. euphemisticintransitiveTo die.

   Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 2:29

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   […] his Tongue, Sounds euer after as a ſullen Bell Remembred, knolling a departing Friend.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 75, column 2

   And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more."

   1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1

   Synonyms: die

4. figurativelyintransitiveTo disappear, vanish; to cease to exist.

   […] then he knew it was Elisha, and his fear departed.

   1953, James Baldwin, “Gabriel’s Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (A Dial Press Trade Paperback Book), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, published July 2005, →ISBN, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints), page 110

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   For youth departs, and pleasure flies, And life consumes away,

   1846, Charlotte Brontë, “The Teacher’s Monologue”, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

   An extraordinary joie de vivre had come over them all as soon as the shaky feeling departed from their legs.

   1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 15”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC

5. intransitiveTo deviate (from), be different (from), fail to conform.

   to depart from a title or defence in legal pleading

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   His latest statements seemed to depart from party policy somewhat.

   1788, James Madison, “Number 39,” in Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, The Federalist, On the New Constitution, Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818, p. 204, If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as no longer defensible.

   [...] he compared the precise points at which the handwriting of the letter departed from examples of Freda Flower’s handwriting and coincided with examples of Patrick Seton’s [...]

   1960, Muriel Spark, chapter 12, in The Bachelors, Philadelphia: Lippincott, published 1961, page 201

   The interior colour scheme departs from the conventional L.T. red and green upholstery and matching paintwork, which has been replaced by a maroon and grey moquette with dove grey paint below the waist rail.

   1960 February, “The first of London's new Piccadilly Line trains is delivered”, in Trains Illustrated, page 94

   Synonyms: deviate, digress, diverge, sidetrack, straggle, vary

6. transitiveTo go away from; to leave.

   She felt what Mrs Maja Picotti had suspected in her prayers, that her soul had departed her body.

   1997, Richard Flanagan, chapter 64, in The Sound of One Hand Clapping, New York: Grove, published 2001, page 323

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   [...] he [...] did pray them only to do no thing against the honor of God, & rather to depart the territories of his empire, then to suffer their consciences to be forced.

   1589, John Eliot, transl., Aduise giuen by a Catholike gentleman, to the nobilitie & commons of France, London: John Wolfe, page 27

   Then, departing the palace, he [Thomas Becket] asked the king's immediate permission to leave Northampton; [...]

   1771, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “Henry II”, in The History of England, from the Earliest Times to the Death of George II. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Davies, […]; [T.] Becket and [P. A.] De Hondt; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 236

   At one stage, when I happened to depart the room in the midst of an address by one of the German gentlemen, M. Dupont suddenly rose and followed me out.

   1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, “Day Two: Morning”, in The Remains of the Day, Vintage Canada, published 2014

   The build-up to Saturday's visit of Macedonia and this encounter with the Dutch could be construed as odd in the sense that there seemed a basic acceptance, inevitability even, that Burley would depart office in their immediate aftermath.

   2009, The Guardian, Sport Blog, 9 September

   Synonyms: leave

7. ambitransitiveaeronauticsTo lose control of an aircraft; to "depart" (sense 5) from controlled flight (with the aircraft as the direct object)

   The envelope protection system allows the pilot to maneuver at high angles of attack without the risk of departing the airplane

8. obsoletetransitiveTo divide up; to distribute, share.

   Then fortified hee his trenches, and departed them in foure quarters, wherein he made good store of fires, in such distance one from another, as are woont to be made in a campe.

   1595, Jacques Hurault, translated by Arthur Golding, Politicke, Moral, and Martial Discourses, London: Adam Islip, Book 3, Chapter 17, p. 458

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   and so all the worlde seythe that betwyxte three knyghtes is departed clerely knyghthode, that is Sir Launcelot du Lake, Sir Trystrams de Lyones and Sir Lamerok de Galys—thes bere now the renowne.

   1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC

   Fyrst on that day yee shall serue a calfe sodden and blessed, and sodden egs with greene sauce, and set them before the most principall estate, and that Lorde because of his high estate, shal depart them al about him [...]

   1597, Thomas Dawson, The Second part of the good Hus-wiues Iewell, London: Edward White

   That Deacons be not preferred before Priests, nor sit in their ranke, nor in their presence do distribute the Sacraments but only minister vnto them, and assist when they do distribute: but when there are no Priests there, in that case they may depart them.

   1602, “Extract out of the Acts of the Councell of Nice”, in Patrick Simon, transl., The Estate of the Church with the Discourse of Times, from the Apostles untill This Present, London: Thomas Creede, page 102

9. obsoletetransitiveTo separate, part.

   1582, Stephen Batman (translator), Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, London: Thomas East, Book 5, Chapter 26, “Of the shoulders,” The twisted forkes [i.e. fork-shaped bones] be néedfull to binde the shoulders, and to depart them from the breast.

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   Syr knyght[,] said the two squyers that were with her[,] yonder are two knyghtes that fyghte for thys lady, goo thyder and departe them[…].

   1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book IV, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC

   I .N. take thee .N. to my wedded wife, to haue ⁊ to holde from this day forwarde, for better, for wurſe, for richer, for poorer, in ſickenes, and in health, to loue, and to cheriſhe, til death vs departe: according to Goddes holy ordeinaunce: And therto I plight thee my trouth.

   1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Forme of Solemnizacion of Matrimonie”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio xiiii, recto

   Thies be than the causes [...] for the whiche we depart our selues from the Athenyans [...]

   1550, Thomas Nicholls, transl., The Hystory Writtone by Thucidides the Athenyan, London, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 74

   Ere we depatt, wee'l ſhare a bounteous time / In different pleaſures.

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 82, column 2

   Great is the affinitie of soule and body, neerely coupled and wedded by God, like Husband & Wife, for better and worse till death depart them.

   1617, Thomas Taylor, Dauids Learning, London: Henry Fetherstone, Dedicatory epistle

1. obsoleteDivision; separation, as of compound substances.
2. obsoleteA going away; departure.

   at my depart for France

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

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   Of that short Roll of friends writ in my heart Which with thy name begins, since their depart, Whether in the English Provinces they be, Or drinke of Po, Sequan, or Danubie,

   1633, John Donne, “To M. I. L.”, in Poems, London: John Marriot, page 101