Definitions for: Abandon


[n] the trait of lacking restraint or control; freedom from inhibition or worry; "she danced with abandon"
[n] a feeling of extreme emotional intensity; "the wildness of his anger"
[v] stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas, claims, etc.; "He abandoned the thought of asking for her hand in marriage"; "Both sides have to give in these negociations"
[v] leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; "The mother deserted her children"
[v] leave behind empty; move out of; "You must vacate your office by tonight"
[v] give up with the intent of never claiming again; "Abandon your life to God"; "She gave up her children to her ex-husband when she moved to Tahiti"; "We gave the drowning victim up for dead"
[v] forsake, leave behind; "We abandoned the old car in the empty parking lot"



Webster (1913) Definition: 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.]

That he might . . . abandon them from him. --Udall.

Being all this time abandoned from your bed. --Shak.

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.

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.


A*ban"don, n. [F. abandon. fr. abandonner. See
Abandon, v.]
Abandonment; relinquishment. [Obs.]


A`ban`don" ([.a]`b[aum]N`d[^o]N"), n. [F. See
Abandon.]
A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from
artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.

Synonyms: desert, desolate, empty, forsake, give up, give up, unconstraint, vacate, wantonness, wildness

See Also: cast aside, cast away, cast out, chuck, chuck out, consign, discard, dispense with, dispose, ditch, ditch, expose, fling, foreswear, forfeit, forgo, go away, go forth, leave, leave, maroon, passion, passionateness, put away, quit, relinquish, renounce, strand, throw away, throw out, throw overboard, toss, toss away, toss out, unrestraint, waive, walk out

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