pillage Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun goods or money obtained illegally
swag; booty; prize; plunder; dirty money; loot.
noun the act of stealing valuable things from a place
plundering; pillaging.
- the plundering of the Parthenon
- his plundering of the great authors
verb steal goods; take as spoils
strip; despoil; plunder; foray; rifle; loot; reave; ransack.
- During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners

F., fr. piller to plunder. See Pill to plunder.

The act of pillaging; robbery. Shak.
That which is taken from another or others by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war; plunder; spoil; booty.
Which pillage they with merry march bring home. Shak.
Syn. -- Plunder; rapine; spoil; depredation. -- Pillage, Plunder. Pillage refers particularly to the act of stripping the sufferers of their goods, while plunder refers to the removal of the things thus taken; but the words are freely interchanged.

imperfect & past participle Pillaged ; present participle & verbal noun Pillaging

To strip of money or goods by open violence; to plunder; to spoil; to lay waste; as, to pillage the camp of an enemy.
Mummius . . . took, pillaged, and burnt their city. Arbuthnot.

To take spoil; to plunder; to ravage.
They were suffered to pillage wherever they went. Macaulay.