All 3 Uses of
depose
in
Great Expectations
- Therefore, fearing he should be called upon to depose about this destroyed child, and so be the cause of her death, he hid himself (much as he grieved for the child), kept himself dark, as he says, out of the way and out of the trial, and was only vaguely talked of as a certain man called Abel, out of whom the jealousy arose.†
Chpt 50
- Nobody doubted it; but Compeyson, who had meant to depose to it, was tumbling on the tides, dead, and it happened that there was not at that time any prison officer in London who could give the required evidence.†
Chpt 55
- She was immediately deposed, however, by Herbert, who silently led me into the parlor and shut the door.†
Chpt 46 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(depose as in: deposed the witness) to question another under oath and record another's legal statement
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) More rarely, depose can reference the respondent's statements, or deposed can reference the respondent.
A completely different meaning of depose that is more rare today is, "to force to leave office." A comprehensive dictionary will have more specialized definitions of depose.