Also 4 exil, 5–6 exyl(e, exyll(e. [a. OF. exil, refashioned form of essil, state of banishment, also (cf. sense 2) devastation, destruction = Pr. essilh, semi-popular ad. L. exsilium state of banishment, f. ex- out + sal- (= Skr. sar- to go), root of salīre to leap (whence also exsul: see EXUL); cf. consilium COUNSEL. In sense 2, OF. essil is a vbl. sb. f. essiller: see EXILE v. 4. (Formerly accented exi·le.)]
1. Enforced removal from one’s native land according to an edict or sentence; penal expatriation or banishment; the state or condition of being penally banished; enforced residence in some foreign land. Phrases, † To go, put in or to exile; to drive, go, send into exile.
In Israelitish history spec. the captivity of the Jews in the 5th century B.C.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1154 (Cott.). Wit all þou sal bi halden vile, Quar-sa þou wendes in exile.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 131. How alle his kynde exile was on þam laid.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. iii. 10. Whi art þou comen in to þis solitarie place of myn exil.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. viii. 44. Saynt Thomas In Frawns, as in-til Exile, was.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme, B ii. b. He was put to exyle in to ye yle of sardeyn.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. iii. 211. Griefe of my Sonnes exile hath stopt her breath.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 632. These puissant Legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav’n.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xiii. 175. The first Bishops … newly returned out of their Exiles, as Cox, Grindal [etc.].
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. X. 365. He had taken the advantage of his exile to travel.
1838. Lytton, Leila, II. i. I accept them: provided, first, that thou obtainest the exile or death of Muza.
1847. Sarah Austin, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 35. Zapolya neglected no means by which he could, from his exile at Tarnow, keep Hungary in a state of agitation.
1868. E. Edwards, Ralegh, I. xxi. 460. Exile was made the condition of his pardon.
b. gen. Expatriation, prolonged absence from one’s native land, endured by compulsion of circumstances or voluntarily undergone for any purpose.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 187. To do profite to the comune He toke of exile the fortune.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 724. Soche a maiden … þat forsec hir fader & hir fre londe … Auntrede hir to Exile euer for þi [Jason’s] sake.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 298. For thy exile and fleynge in to Egypte.
1548. Hall, Chron., 242 b. He so … greved his nobilitie … that some of their voluntarie will, went into Exile.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 519. After an exile of many years, Dudley North returned to England with a large fortune.
c. transf. and fig.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 19. Godes flesche and eke hys blode … frevereth ous in oure exil.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1165. Þe world es na thyng elles Bot en hard exil, in qwilk men duelles.
1340. Ayenb., 131. Huan he … y-ziȝþ þise wordle þet ne is bote an exil and a dezert uol of lyons.
c. 1450. Castle Hd. Life St. Cuthb. (Surtees), 7994. Þe same bischope … Fra his kirke was putt in exile.
1547. Act 37 Hen. VIII., c. 2. The couersion therof [Hounsloo Heathe] into tillage … by mennes labour … shall be an exile of idlenesse in those parties.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. iii. 20. Banished is banisht from the world, And worlds exile is death.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. Vocation. All our life and Age Is but an exile and a Pilgrimage.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. i. 20. And out of its exile The passion return.
d. attrib.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, I. viii. 202. Thou Deigned to Come down … to dwell with Me in this Exile-World. Ibid., I. ix. 207. Man, a Pilgrim upon Earth … should sanctify his Exile-state, by these Trials.
† 2. Waste or devastation of property; ruin, utter impoverishment. To put in exile [OF. metre a essil]: to ravage (a country), ruin (a person). Obs.
[1267. Act 52 Hen. III., c. 33. Item firmarii tempore firmarum suarum vastum, vendicionem, seu exilium non faciant, in domibus, boscis, hominibus, neque, &c.]
c. 1386. Chaucer, Melib., ¶ 869. I … purpose me … to putte hem in exil for evermore.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, liii. 96. Ȝif oure rem withowten kyng be ony while, It myhte sone thanne fallen into exylle.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, E vj b. He began werre to his neyghbours … in so much that the reame was put in exyl. Ibid. (1490), Eneydos, xxii. (1890), 81. Her cyte and landes of Cartage are all dystroied and tourned in exyll.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John, 74 a. The temple was … repayred after the exile that was made at Hierusalem by the Persians.
1618. Pulton, Stat. 52 Hen. III., c. 23. Fermors, during their termes, shall not make wast, sale, nor exile of House, Woods, and Men … without speciall licence. [So 1700 in J. Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 1114.]
