Abandoning

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Abandon \A*ban"don\ ([.a]*b[a^]n"d[u^]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     {Abandoned} (-d[u^]nd); 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.]
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              That he might . . . abandon them from him. --Udall.
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              Being all this time abandoned from your bed. --Shak.
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     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.
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              Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned.
                                                    --I. Taylor.
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     3. Reflexively: To give (one's self) up without attempt at
        self-control; to yield (one's self) unrestrainedly; --
        often in a bad sense.
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              He abandoned himself . . . to his favorite vice.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     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.
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     Syn: To give up; yield; forego; cede; surrender; resign;
          abdicate; quit; relinquish; renounce; desert; forsake;
          leave; retire; withdraw from.
  
     Usage: {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.
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