impoverish

From Middle English impoverishen, empoverishen, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor).

impoverish (third-person singular simple present impoverishes, present participle impoverishing, simple past and past participle impoverished)

1. (transitive) To make poor.
2. (transitive) To weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness.

   That exuberant crop quickly impoverishes any fertile soil.

3. (intransitive) To become poor.

• ruin
• (weaken, deprive): deplete

• enrich

• impoverisher
• impoverishment

• immiserate

• impoverish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• impoverish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• impoverish at OneLook Dictionary Search