To discharge or release military personnel from service and reduce armed forces to a peacetime basis; British spelling of demobilize.
From French 'démobiliser', combining 'dé-' (remove) + 'mobiliser' (from Latin 'mobilis', movable). The '-ise' ending is standard British English spelling.
The word 'mobilise' was invented during the World Wars to describe preparing for combat, so 'demobilise' is literally the un-mobilizing—showing how military needs drive language innovation!
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