"colonize" in the verb sense
1. colonize, colonise
settle as a colony of countries in the developing world
"Europeans colonized Africa in the 17th century"
2. colonize, colonise
settle as colonists or establish a colony (in
"The British colonized the East Coast"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.
View WordNet® License