remove

Etymology

From Middle English removen, from Anglo-Norman remover, removeir, from Old French remouvoir, from Latin removēre, from re- + movēre (“to move”). Displaced native Old English āfierran.

verb

1. (transitive) To delete.
2. (transitive) To move something or someone from one place to another, especially to take away.
   He removed the marbles from the bag.
   Thou ſhalt not remoue thy neighbours marke, which thei of olde time haue ſet in thine inheritance, that thou ſhalt inherit the lãd, which the Lord thy God giueth the to poſſeſſe it. 1560, Geneva Bible, The Geneva Bible#page/n182 Deuteronomy 19:14
   Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess
   1. (obsolete, formal) To replace a dish within a course.
      But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw[…]that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either. 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
3. (transitive) To murder.
4. (cricket, transitive) To dismiss a batsman.
5. (transitive) To discard, set aside, especially something abstract (a thought, feeling, etc.).
   The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation. 2013-06-21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10
6. (intransitive, now rare) To depart, leave.
7. (intransitive, archaic) To change one's residence or place of business; to move.
   Shortly after this, my father removed, and settled in the same county, about ten miles above Greenville. 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, page 20
   I am going to remove. / Where are you going to remove to? / I don't know yet. / When will you know?
   About a year ago we removed to the above address, which we leased on a five-year lease with privilege of cancellation in one year. 1925, W. K. & Co., “How to Avoid a Controversy Over Fixtures Between Landlord and Tenant”, in American Independent Baker: Official Organ of the Retail Bakers, volume 23, page 20
8. To dismiss or discharge from office.
   The President removed many postmasters.

noun

1. The act of removing something.
   There is no tree admits of transplantation so well as the Elm, for a tree of twenty years growth will admit of a remove. 1761, John Mordant, The Complete Steward
2. (cooking, now chiefly historical) A dish served to replace an earlier one during a meal; a part of a new course.
   A supper brings up the rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, almost equalling in removes the dinner. 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Oxford, published 2009, page 16
3. (Britain) (at some public schools) A division of the school, especially the form prior to last
4. A step or gradation (as in the phrase "at one remove")
   Thus though this degree of faith is but one remove from disbelief, (denial) nevertheless as much probability is given to one side of the question as the other, and we stand, as it were, on an average between two. 1822, Paul Brown, “Of the Degrees of Faith, according to probability, and force of impression”, in A Disquisition on Faith, Washington, D.C.: […] [F]or the Author[, b]y Andrew Way, page 24
   In his unfortunate absence at this far remove of 2007, Zevon's musicianship and irascible wit are as missed as ever. 2007, James D. McCallister, King's Highway, page 162
5. Distance in time or space; interval.
6. (figurative, by extension) Emotional distance or indifference.
7. (dated) The transfer of one's home or business to another place; a move.
   It is an English proverb that three removes are as bad as a fire. 1855, John Henry Newman, Callista
8. The act of resetting a horse's shoe.
   His horse wanted two removes; your horse wanted nails