abandon

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English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Verb[edit]

abandon (third-person singular simple present abandons, present participle abandoning, simple past and past participle abandoned)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 16th century.][1]
  2. (transitive) To give up control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)][1]
    • Macaulay
      He abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.
  3. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)][1]
    • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19: 
      In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]   The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
  4. (transitive) To leave behind; to desert as in a ship or a position, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. [First attested in the late 15th century.][1]
    • (Can we date this quote?) I. Taylor:
      Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned.
    Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject. [Attested from the mid 16th century until the mid 17th century.][1]
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act I, scene ii:
      Being all this time abandoned from your bed.
    • Udall
      that he might […] abandon them from him
  6. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][1]
  7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer the insured item, so as to claim a total loss.
Synonyms[edit]
synonyms of "abandon"
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from "abandon"
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

abandon (plural abandons)

  1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. [Early 19th century.][1][3]
    • 1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah:
      I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there. I saw it happen. It happened thus.'
    • 2007, Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich, I am Legend:
      They needed to have an abandon in their performance that you just can’t get out of people in the middle of the night when they’re barefoot.
  2. (obsolete) abandonment; relinquishment.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb[edit]

abandon (comparative more abandon, superlative most abandon)

  1. (obsolete, not comparable) Freely; entirely.
    • 1330, Arthour and Merlin:
      His ribbes and scholder fel adoun,/Men might se the liver abandoun.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 2
  2. ^ Christine A. Lindberg (editor), The Oxford College Dictionary, 2nd edition (Spark Publishing, 2007 [2002], ISBN 978-1-4114-0500-4), page 1
  3. ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], ISBN 0550142304), page 2.

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (FR) IPA(key): /a.bã.dõ/
  • abandon (France, Paris) IPA: [a.bã.dõ]
    help
  • Rhymes: -dõ

Noun[edit]

abandon m (plural abandons)

  1. surrender
  2. abandonment
  3. (uncountable) complete neglect

Derived terms[edit]

External links[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

French abandon.

Noun[edit]

abandon n

  1. abandonment
  2. renouncement
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