disown

Etymology

dis- + own

verb

  1. (transitive) To refuse to own, or to refuse to acknowledge one’s own.
    Lord Capulet and his wife threatened to disown their daughter Juliet if she didn’t go through with marrying Count Paris.
    Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt that ever was. 1744, Alexander Shiels, “Period VI.”, in A Hind Let Loose, Edinburgh: Reprinted by R. Drummond and Company, →OCLC, pages 167–168
  2. (transitive) To repudiate any connection to; to renounce.
    He disowns me, and he scorns me / But when we're alone he tells me I'm his very own 1968, Don Covay (lyrics and music), “I'm Gonne Take What He's Got”, in Tell Mama, performed by Etta James
  3. (transitive, computing, Unix) To detach (a job or process) so that it can continue to run even when the user who launched it ends his/her login session.

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