Citations:abandon

English citations of abandon

					1818 1851
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein:
I had determined, if you were going southwards, still to trust myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:
Though, consumed with the hot fire of his purpose, Ahab in all his thoughts and actions ever had in view the ultimate capture of Moby Dick; though he seemed ready to sacrifice all mortal interests to that one passion; nevertheless it may have been that he was by nature and long habituation far too wedded to a fiery whaleman's ways, altogether to abandon the collateral prosecution of the voyage.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:
Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying, that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that she became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman re-harpooned her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman's property, along with whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in her.

2004, Musarrat Ḥasan, Zubeida Agha: A Pioneer of Modern Art in Pakistan:
... have an abandon and a casualness that one associates with spontaneity of thought while others in many paintings have been meticulously worked out like a miniature and have in fact a mosaic like quality about them . In most cases these […]
1923, Cassell's Weekly, page 622:
... have an abandon , an arrogance and a daring which peculiarly suits this form of fiction . I do not suppose that any- body to - day reads Gaboriau , or Du Boisgobey , both of whom have a long list of stories to their names , but Maurice […]
1959, Industrial Welfare and Personnel Management:
... have an abandon which more conventionalised industry lacks - an abandon kept in check by savings banks and a pennywise sense that runs from the executives to the youngest apprentice . Jokes against Monterrey , as against Aberdeen , are […]