DIVEST Copy link • DIVESTPROPR. Strip (of clothes, etc.), spoliare veste or vestibus: exuere aliquem veste; also, detrabere alicui vestem: nudare aliquem (SYN. in STRIP). FIG., To deprive, Vid: To divest one’s self of anything, decedere aliqua re or de aliqua re (e.g., of one’s estates, de suis bonis; of one’s rights, jure suo or de suo jure); also, aliquid missum facere, mittere (to let anything go, give it up): to divest one’s self of all cares, omnes curas doloresque deponere; of the command, imperium deponere: to divest anybody of all his possessions, aliquem omnibus bonis evertere or expellere (to turn him out of his estates); also aliquem de fortunis omnibus deturbare. In Liv., and in later writers, exuere aliquem (e.g., agro paterno avitoque, Liv.; avitis bonis, Tac.; patrimonio, Suet.); of former habits, a pristina, consuetudine deflectere: to divest a subject of its sophistical arguments, captiones discutere: to divest of any deceptive appearances, in lucem proferre; aperire [opposed to operire]: to be divested of their deceptive appearance (illum) quo fefellerant, exuere mentitum colorem (Quint.): to divest anybody of an office, abrogare alicui munus; of the command, adimere alicui imperium. For my part I cannot divest myself of the notion, that etc., mihi quidem ex animo exui non potest, with accusative and infinitive (e.g., esse deos, Cic.) ☞ in the Silver Age, exuere was used in almost every meaning of our “divest,” and as several such applications are found in Cic., it is correct in this sense; e.g., to divest one’s self of one’s human feeling, humanitatem or hominem exuere, Cic.): to divest one’s self of a title or dignity, etc., dignitatem suam destituere (Sen., Ep., 36, in.): to divest one’s self of an erroneous opinion, of fear, etc., dejicere, depellere aliquid (Vid: Cic., Ecl., p. 109).