devest

D2E1V4E1S1T1

verb

To divest; to undress.

OriginMiddle French devester ← Old French desvestir →
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Meanings

verbdevest (third-person singular simple present devests, present participle devesting, simple past and past participle devested)

present singular third person devests · participle present devesting · participle past devested · past devested

  1. To divest; to undress.

    Devesting them for bed

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]
  2. transitivelawTo take away, as an authority, title, etc., to deprive; to alienate, as an estate.
  3. intransitivelawTo be taken away, lost, or alienated, as a title or an estate.

Origin

  1. Old Frenchdesvestir
  2. Middle Frenchdevester“strip of possessions”
  3. Englishdevest

From Middle French devester (“strip of possessions”), from Old French desvestir, from des- (“dis-”) + vestir (“to clothe”).

More words from Middle French, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

vested
Cite this entry
APA

devest. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devest

MLA

“devest.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devest. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devest,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devest.

Source: devest on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.