TEAR DOWN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Tear down

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/tɛr daʊn/ Listen

verb

Tear v. t. (past tore, obs. tare; past part. torn; pres. part. tearing)

1.

To separate by violence; to pull apart by force; to rend; to lacerate; as, to tear cloth; to tear a garment; to tear the skin or flesh. "Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator."

2.

Hence, to divide by violent measures; to disrupt; to rend; as, a party or government torn by factions.

3.

To rend away; to force away; to remove by force; to sunder; as, a child torn from its home. "The hand of fate Hath torn thee from me."

4.

To pull with violence; as, to tear the hair.

5.

To move violently; to agitate. "Once I loved torn ocean's roar."

To tear a cat, to rant violently; to rave; especially applied to theatrical ranting. (Obs.)

To tear down, to demolish violently; to pull or pluck down.

To tear off, to pull off by violence; to strip.

To tear out, to pull or draw out by violence; as, to tear out the eyes.

To tear up, to rip up; to remove from a fixed state by violence; as, to tear up a floor; to tear up the foundation of government or order.

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Etymology of 'Tear down'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tear down" Quotes from Famous Books

... leave this town; for they are hare-brain'd slaves, And hunger will enforce them to be more eager: Of old I know them; rather with their teeth The walls they'll tear down ...

— King Henry VI, First Part • William Shakespeare [Aldus edition]

... the curiosity of the listeners passed all bounds, and the Bassa commanded his slaves instantly to tear down the wall. It was done, but the man was nowhere to be seen, and there were only two girls of extraordinary beauty, who seemed quite at their ease, and came dancing gaily on to the terrace. With them was an old slave in whom the Bassa recognised Gouloucou, the former ...

— The Grey Fairy Book • Various

... there was the matter of the Farm at Grafton, which must be altered. The architect, who was making over the New York house, had visited Grafton and had ideas as to what could be done with the rambling old house without removing it bodily. "Tear down the barn—throw out a beautiful room here—terrace it—a formal garden there," etc. In the blue prints the old ...

— Together • Robert Herrick (1868-1938)

... public feeling in England producing a moral impression upon the planters favorable to the condition of the slaves, its effect was directly the reverse. It excited them to drive away the missionaries, to tear down the chapels, to manifest a determination to rivet still more firmly the chains on their helpless captives, and to resist to the utmost all attempts for their emancipation or even improvement. All this was natural, though it was all, ...

— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... horribly that the jurors would feel it their inescapable duty to scavenge him from the offended earth, that was the effort of the prosecution. To prevent that blackening was one of the most vital and one of the most costly features of the defense. To deny the murder and tear down the web of circumstantial evidence as fast as the State ...

— In a Little Town • Rupert Hughes

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