From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Displace \Dis*place"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Displaced; p. pr. &
vb. n. Displacing.] [Pref. dis- + place: cf. F.
d['e]placer.]
1. To change the place of; to remove from the usual or proper
place; to put out of place; to place in another situation;
as, the books in the library are all displaced.
[1913 Webster]
2. To crowd out; to take the place of.
[1913 Webster]
Holland displaced Portugal as the mistress of those
seas. --London
Times.
[1913 Webster]
3. To remove from a state, office, dignity, or employment; to
discharge; to depose; as, to displace an officer of the
revenue.
[1913 Webster]
4. To dislodge; to drive away; to banish. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
You have displaced the mirth. --Shak.
Syn: To disarrange; derange; dismiss; discard.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
displace
v 1: cause to move, usually with force or pressure; "the
refugees were displaced by the war"
2: take the place of or have precedence over; "live broadcast of
the presidential debate preempts the regular news hour";
"discussion of the emergency situation will preempt the
lecture by the professor" [syn: preempt, displace]
3: terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or
position; "The boss fired his secretary today"; "The company
terminated 25% of its workers" [syn: displace, fire,
give notice, can, dismiss, give the axe, send away,
sack, force out, give the sack, terminate] [ant:
employ, engage, hire]
4: cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in
a concrete and in an abstract sense; "Move those boxes into
the corner, please"; "I'm moving my money to another bank";
"The director moved more responsibilities onto his new
assistant" [syn: move, displace]