Lexic.us

Definition of Abandon

1. Noun. The trait of lacking restraint or control; reckless freedom from inhibition or worry. "She danced with abandon"

2. Verb. Forsake, leave behind. "We abandoned the old car in the empty parking lot"

3. Noun. A feeling of extreme emotional intensity. "The wildness of his anger"

4. Verb. Give up with the intent of never claiming again. "We gave the drowning victim up for dead"

5. Verb. Leave behind empty; move out of. "You must vacate your office by tonight"

6. Verb. Stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims. "Both sides have to give up some claims in these negotiations"

7. Verb. Leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch. "Sam cannot abandon Sue "; "The mother deserted her children"

Definition of Abandon

1. v. t. To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject.

2. n. Abandonment; relinquishment.

3. n. A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.

Definition of Abandon

1. Verb. (transitive) To give up control of, to surrender, as in a ship or a position, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To leave behind; to desert; toforsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive, obsolete) To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To give oneself over, or to yield without restraint or control. ¹

6. Verb. (transitive) To turn away from; to permit to lapse; to desist in doing, practicing, following, or adhering to. ¹

7. Verb. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer the item that was insured, so as to claim payment for a total loss. ¹

8. Noun. A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease. ¹

9. Adverb. (obsolete not comparable) Freely; entirely. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Abandon

1. to leave or give up completely [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Abandon

1. 1. To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject. "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. 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. 5. A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease. Synonym: 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 colours, 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. Origin: 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. Banproclamation. 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. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Abandon

abalienates abalienating abalienation abalienations abalone abalones abamectin abamp abampere abamperes

abamps aband abanded abandees abanding abandon (current term) abandonable abandoned abandoned child syndrome abandoned infant

abandoned person abandoned properties abandoned property abandoned ship abandonedly abandonedness abandonee abandonees abandoner abandoners

Literary usage of Abandon

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1887)
"The jury were 3i distinctly told that the right to abandon depended upon the ... The contract provided, as a condition precedent to the right to abandon, ..."

2. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1918)
"The English law is more restricted than the American, by not making the loss over half the value conclusive of the right to abandon, and bv judging the ..."

3. The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Edward Bouverie Pusey, William Benham (1909)
"THE NINTH BOOK Augustine determines to devote bis life to God, and to abandon bis profession of Rhetoric, quietly however; retires to the country to prepare ..."

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