In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
DIVEST
divest, disinvest
(verb) reduce or dispose of; cease to hold (an investment); “The company decided to divest”; “the board of trustees divested $20 million in real estate property”; “There was pressure on the university to disinvest in South Africa”
deprive, strip, divest
(verb) take away possessions from someone; “The Nazis stripped the Jews of all their assets”
divest, disinvest
(verb) deprive of status or authority; “he was divested of his rights and his title”; “They disinvested themselves of their rights”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
divest (third-person singular simple present divests, present participle divesting, simple past and past participle divested)
(transitive) To strip, deprive, or dispossess (someone) of something (such as a right, passion, privilege, or prejudice).
Synonyms: deprive, dispossess
(transitive, finance) To sell off or be rid of through sale, especially of a subsidiary.
Synonym: sell off
Antonym: invest
(transitive, archaic) To undress.
Synonyms: undress, disrobe
Antonym: dress
Usage notes
In sense "sell off", stronger than related disinvest, which instead means "reduce or cease new investment".
Anagrams
• divets, stived
Source: Wiktionary
Di*vest", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Divested; p. pr. & vb. n. Divesting.] Etym: [LL. divestire (di- = dis- + L. vestire to dress), equiv. to L. devestire. It is the same word as devest, but the latter is rarely used except as a technical term in law. See Devest, Vest.]
1. To unclothe; to strip, as of clothes, arms, or equipage; -- opposed to invest.
2. Fig.: To strip; to deprive; to dispossess; as, to divest one of his rights or privileges; to divest one's self of prejudices, passions, etc. Wretches divested of every moral feeling. Goldsmith. The tendency of the language to divest itself of its gutturals. Earle.
3. (Law)
Definition: See Devest. Mozley & W.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
22 February 2025
ANALYSIS
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
Coffee Trivia
