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Origin and history of vacate

vacate(v.)

1640s, "make legally void, annul," from Latin vacatus, past participle of vacare "be empty, be void" (from extended form of PIE root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out"). The meaning "leave, give up, quit" (a place) is attested from 1791. Related: Vacated; vacating.

also from 1640s

Entries linking to vacate

*eue-

*euə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to leave, abandon, give out," with derivatives meaning "abandoned, lacking, empty."

It might form all or part of: avoid; devastation; devoid; evacuate; evanescent; vacant; vacate; vacation; vacuity; vacuole; vacuous; vacuum; vain; vanish; vanity; vaunt; void; wane; want; wanton; waste.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit una- "deficient;" Avestan va- "lack," Persian vang "empty, poor;" Armenian unain "empty;" Latin vacare "to be empty," vastus "empty, waste," vanus "empty, void," figuratively "idle, fruitless;" Old English wanian "to lessen," wan "deficient;" Old Norse vanta "to lack."

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    Trends of vacate

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    empty
    c. 1200, from Old English æmettig, of persons, "at leisure, not occupied; unmarried" (senses now obsolete), also, of receptacles, "containing nothing," of places, "unoccupied," from æmetta "leisure." Watkins explains it as from Proto-Germanic *e-mot-ja-, with a prefix of uncertai
    abandon
    late 14c., "to give up (something) absolutely, relinquish control, give over utterly;" also reflexively, "surrender (oneself), yield (oneself) utterly" (to religion, fornication, etc.), from Old French abandonner "surrender, release; give freely, permit," also reflexive, "devote
    revoke
    mid-14c., revoken, "make a retraction, renounce," from Old French revoquer (13c.), from Latin revocare "rescind, call back," from re- "back" (see re-) + vocare "to call," which is related to vox (genitive vocis) "voice" (from PIE root *wekw- "to speak"). From late 14c. as "call b
    devoid
    (with of), c. 1400, shortening of devoided, past participle of obsolete Middle English verb devoiden "to remove, void, vacate...
    renege
    1540s, renegue, "deny, renounce, abandon" (archaic), from Medieval Latin renegare, from Latin re-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re-), + negare "to refuse" (from PIE root *ne- "not"). The meaning "change one's mind, go back on (one's word or promise)" is by 1784. OED iden
    overturn
    early 13c., of a wheel, "to rotate, roll over," from over- + turn (v.). Attested from c. 1300 in general transitive sense "to throw over violently;" figurative meaning "to ruin, destroy" is from late 14c. Of judicial decisions, "to reverse," it is attested from 1826. Related: Ove
    discern
    "perceive or recognize the difference or distinction between (two or more things);" also "distinguish (an object) with the eyes, see distinctly, behold;" also "perceive rationally, understand;" late 14c., from Old French discerner (13c.) "distinguish (between), separate" (by sift
    rescind
    "abrogate, annul, or revoke by authority, repeal," 1630s, from French rescinder "cancel; cut off" (15c.), and directly from Latin rescindere "annul, cancel, abolish, remove by cutting off," from re- "back" (see re-) + scindere "to cut, rend, tear asunder, split; split up, part, d
    cancel
    late 14c., "cross out with lines, draw lines across (something written) so as to deface," from Anglo-French and Old French canceler, from Latin cancellare "to make like a lattice," which in Late Latin took on especially a sense "cross out something written" by marking it with cro
    leave
    Old English læfan "to allow to remain in the same state or condition; to let remain, allow to survive; to have left (of a deceased person, in reference to heirs, etc.); to bequeath (a heritage)," from Proto-Germanic *laibjanan (source also of Old Frisian leva "to leave," Old Saxo

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