Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Abandon
A-ban′don
(ȧ-băn′dŭn)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Abandoned
(-dŭnd)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Abandoning
.] [OF.
abandoner
, F. abandonner
; a
(L. ad
) + bandon
permission, authority, LL. bandum
, bannum
, public proclamation, interdiction, bannire
to proclaim, summon: of Germanic origin; cf. Goth. bandwjan
to show by signs, to designate OHG. ban
proclamation. The word meant to proclaim, put under a ban, put under control; hence, as in OE., to compel, subject, or to leave in the control of another, and hence, to give up. See Ban
.] 1.
To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
[Obs.]
That he might . . .
abandon
them from him. Udall.
Being all this time
abandoned
from your bed. Shakespeare
2.
To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely ; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on; to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender.
Hope was overthrown, yet could not be
abandoned
. I. Taylor.
3.
Reflexively: To give (one’s self) up without attempt at self-control; to yield (one's self) unrestrainedly; – often in a bad sense.
He
abandoned
himself . . . to his favorite vice. Macaulay.
4.
(Mar. Law)
To relinquish all claim to; – used when an insured person gives up to underwriters all claim to the property covered by a policy, which may remain after loss or damage by a peril insured against.
Syn. – To give up; yield; forego; cede; surrender; resign; abdicate; quit; relinquish; renounce; desert; forsake; leave; retire; withdraw from.
– To Abandon
, Desert
, Forsake
. These words agree in representing a person as giving up or leaving some object, but differ as to the mode of doing it. The distinctive sense of abandon is that of giving up a thing absolutely and finally; as, to abandon one's friends, places, opinions, good or evil habits, a hopeless enterprise, a shipwrecked vessel. Abandon is more widely applicable than forsake or desert. The Latin original of desert appears to have been originally applied to the case of deserters from military service. Hence, the verb, when used of persons
in the active voice, has usually or always a bad sense, implying some breach of fidelity, honor, etc., the leaving of something which the person should rightfully stand by and support; as, to desert
one's colors, to desert
one's post, to desert
one's principles or duty. When used in the passive, the sense is not necessarily bad; as, the fields were deserted
, a deserted
village, deserted
halls. Forsake
implies the breaking off of previous habit, association, personal connection, or that the thing left had been familiar or frequented; as, to forsake old friends, to forsake
the paths of rectitude, the blood forsook
his cheeks. It may be used either in a good or in a bad sense. A-ban′don
,Noun.
Abandonment; relinquishment.
[Obs.]
‖Aˊbanˊdon′
(ȧˊbäNˊdôN′)
, Noun.
[F. See
Abandon
.] A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.
Webster 1828 Edition
Abandon
ABAN'DON
,Verb.
T.
1.
To forsake entirely; as to abandon a hopeless enterprize. Wo to that generation by which the testimony of God shall be abandoned.
2.
To renounce and forsake; to leave with a view never to return; to desert as lost or desperate; as to abandon a country; to abandon a cause or party.3.
To give up or resign without control, as when a person yields himself, without restraint, to a propensity; as to abandon one's self to intemperance. Abandoned over and abandoned of are obsolete.4.
To resign; to yield, relinquish, or give over entirely.Verus abandoned the cares of empire to his wiser colleague.
5.
In commerce, to relinquish to insurers all claim to a ship or goods insured, as a preliminary towards recovering for a total loss.ABAN'DON
,Noun.
2.
A relinquishment. [not used.]