1a. To position (troops) in readiness for combat, as along a front or line. b. To bring (forces or material) into action. c. To base (a weapons system) in the field. 2. To distribute (persons or forces) systematically or strategically. 3. To put into use or action: “Samuel Beckett's friends suspected that he was a genius, yet no one knew . . . how his abilities would be deployed” (Richard Ellmann).
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
To be or become deployed.
ETYMOLOGY:
French déployer, from Old French despleier, from Latin displicre, to scatter : dis-, dis- + plicre, to fold; see plek- in Appendix I.
d
-ploi
re, to scatter : dis-, dis- + plic
a·bil
