abandon

Etymology 1

* From Middle English abandounen, from Old French abandoner, formed from a (“at, to”) + bandon (“jurisdiction, control”), from Late Latin bannum (“proclamation”), bannus, bandum, from Frankish *ban, *bann, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, command”) (compare English ban), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”). See also ban, banal. * Displaced Middle English forleten (“to abandon”), from Old English forlǣtan, anforlǣtan; see forlet; and Middle English forleven (“to leave behind, abandon”), from Old English forlǣfan; see forleave.

verb

  1. (transitive) To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.
    […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice. 1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II. Volume 3, page 312
  2. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue.
    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. 2013-05-17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19
  3. (transitive) To leave behind; to desert, as in a ship, a position, or a person, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility.
    Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.
    She abandoned her husband for a new man.
    Hope was overthrown, and yet could not be abandoned. 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening, page 3
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
    Being all this time abandoned from your bed. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act I, scene ii
  6. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish.
    I hereby abandon my position as manager.
  7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

Etymology 2

* From French, from Old French abandon, from Old French abondonner.

noun

  1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences.
    I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there. I saw it happen. It happened thus.' 1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah
    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. November 4 2007, David M. Halbfinger, “The City That Never Sleeps, Comatose”, in The New York Times
  2. (obsolete) abandonment; relinquishment.

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