evacuate

verb

Etymology: First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (“to empty out, evacuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

1. To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from.

   “The soldiers evacuated the fortress.”

   “The firefighters told us to evacuate the area as the flames approached.”

2. To cause (or help) to leave or withdraw from.

   “The firefighters decided to evacuate all the inhabitants from the street.”

   “Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese.”

3. To make empty; to empty out; to remove the contents of, including to create a vacuum.

   “The scientist evacuated the chamber before filling it with nitrogen.”

4. To make empty; to deprive.

   “Evacuate the Scriptures of their most important doctrines.”

5. To remove; to eject; to void; to discharge, as the contents of a vessel, or of the bladder or the bowels (to stool).

   “In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; to assimilate a part; to evacuate what is redundant or useless; [...]”

6. To make void; to nullify; to vacate.

   “to evacuate a contract or marriage”

   “it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and actual consummation”