[Ads-l] disrobe

[James Eric Lawson]

Collins Dictionary reports sense 2 of disrobe in British English:

(transitive)
to divest of authority, etc.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/disrobe

The sense is not reported by OEDO lexicographers or, so far as I've 
discovered, by any dictionary in American English, but dictionaries (and 
linguists) must needs continue to play catch-up with the ongoing rapid 
dialect changes occasioned by the WWW and other internet influences.

As that shrewd observer, D. Trump, recently noted "We have languages 
coming into our country … they have languages that nobody in this 
country has ever heard of. It’s a horrible thing." (As reported in The 
Guardian, 24 February 2024.)

On 2/25/24 14:02, Laurence Horn wrote:
> I’d expect chefs who lost their jobs for misbehavior (e.g. Mario Batali) to be described as having been detoqued. But the term doesn’t seem to exist, alas.
> 
> LH
> 
>> On Feb 25, 2024, at 4:17 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> There exist a small number of matches for "disrobe" which are
>> connected to the sense: remove a judge from power.
>>
>> Date: November 23, 1969
>> Newspaper: The Akron Beacon Journal
>> Newspaper Location: Akron, Ohio
>> Article: Sir Bayh, White Knight Of Doubtful Courage
>> Author: Ben Maidenburg
>> Quote Page D1, Column 2
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Now this question for Rt. Hon. Senator Bayh.
>> How come, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he hasn't
>> complained about Kennedy's efforts to hide behind the closed doors of
>> secrecy If he held the right to disrobe Judge Haynsworth.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Date: September 24, 1991
>> Newspaper: The Arizona Republic
>> Newspaper Location: Phoenix, Arizona
>> Article: Thomas ducks and dodges, Democrats contort selves
>> Author: Keven Willey (Political Columnist)
>> Quote Page B2, Column 3
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> On the other hand, you had Democrats grinding their teeth over their
>> inability to politically disrobe Judge Thomas. They blasted the judge
>> for distancing himself from his earlier writings on such politically
>> delicate topics as natural law and judicial precedent.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Year: 2006
>> Book Title: Disrobed: The New Battle Plan to Break the Left's
>> Stranglehold On the Courts
>> Author: Mark W. Smith
>> Publisher: Crown Forum, New York
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Disrobed provides that battle plan. In addition to embracing
>> conservative judicial activism, conservatives can and must:
>> Pick "Judicial Reagans." Our first priority is to select solid and
>> reliable conservative judges.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Date: September 26, 2013
>> Newspaper: Rapid City Journal
>> Newspaper Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
>> Article: Mont. judge faulted for alleged bias in rape case
>> Byline: Associated Press
>> Quote Page A10, Column 2
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Montana NOW president Marian Bradley was accompanied by her husband,
>> Ray, daughter Alexandra and three supporters as they handed over the
>> complaint to Supreme Court administrator Beth McLaughlin.
>> The supporters held signs saying "Rape Is Rape" and "Disrobe Judge
>> Baugh." The complaint took up 10 boxes and included thousands of pages
>> bearing the names of an estimated 140,000 people who joined online
>> petitions calling for Baugh's removal.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Date: February 21, 2018
>> Newspaper: Dayton Daily News
>> Newspaper Location:
>> Article: Leader of effort to recall judge gets 2 rape threats
>> Author: Meagan Flynn (Washington Post)
>> Quote Page A2, Column 4 and 5
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber, as chairwoman of the
>> Recall Persky Campaign, is trying to disrobe California Superior Court
>> Judge Aaron Persky. She has been targeted by Persky supporters. . . .
>> Dauber, chairwoman of the "Recall Persky Campaign," is the woman
>> trying to disrobe Persky, a California Superior Court judge.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Gerald Cohen and JL mentioned related terms "disbar" and "defrock".
>>
>> The website vocabulary.com suggests "defrock" is based on the notion
>> of taking away a garment. But strict analogical reasoning would
>> produce "derobe" instead of "disrobe".
>>
>> https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/defrock
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> defrock
>> Defrock comes from frock, an old word for "dress." Priests, nuns,
>> monks, and other church officials wear a frock to symbolize their job.
>> If they leave the church, they are said to be defrocked: their gown is
>> taken away.
>> Although it is still common to refer to defrocked priests (priests who
>> have left the priesthood for one reason or another), the word does not
>> have a generally-used meaning outside of the clergy. You would not
>> refer to a "defrocked teacher" or a "defrocked coach."
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Garson
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 1:01 PM Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> In linguistics this levity-producing item is referred to as a
>>> malapropism and probably derives from confusion with the word
>>> disbarred. MTG also famously produced the malapropism
>>> gazpacho police (Gestapo).
>>>
>>> Gerald Cohen

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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