farewell

Etymology

From Middle English farewel, from fare wel! (and the variants with the personal pronoun "fare you well" and "fare ye well" used in the Renaissance), an imperative expression, possibly further derived from Old English *far wel!, equivalent to fare (“to fare, travel, journey”) + well. Compare Scots farewele, fairweill (“farewell”), Saterland Frisian Foarwäil (“farewell”), West Frisian farwol (“farewell”), German Fahrwol,Fahrwohl, East Frisian forwal, Dutch vaarwel (“farewell (sadly)”), Danish farvel (“farewell”), Norwegian farvel (“farewell”), Swedish farväl (“farewell”), Faroese farvæl (“goodbye”), Icelandic far vel (“farewell”). The extensive list of cognates suggests a postulated ultimate Proto-Germanic phrase of origin, possibly something akin to *far wela.

noun

1. A wish of happiness or safety at parting, especially a permanent departure
   The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity. 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
   The last train—a three-coach A.E.C. unit—from Belfast to Crumlin and back, was bade farewell with fog signals as it carried a capacity crowd of last-trip travellers. 1960 November, L. Hyland, “The Irish Scene”, in Trains Illustrated, page 691
2. A departure; the act of leaving
   Before I take my farewell of the subject. September 14, 1710, Joseph Addison, The Examiner No. 1

adj

1. Parting, valedictory, final.
   a farewell discourse;  the band's farewell tour
   But with the first gray light of dawn he arose; and before drawing the white sheet veilingly over, he took a last farewell look at that angel face. 1858, John Saunders, Westland Marston, The National Magazine, volume 3, page 133

intj

1. Goodbye.
   He said "Farewell!" and left.
   Fareweel, my rhyme-compoſing billie! Your native ſoil was right ill-willie; But may ye flouriſh like a lily, Now bonilie! I'll toaſt ye in my hindmoſt gillie, 31 July 1786, Robert Burns, “On a Scotch Bard Gone to the West Indies”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire: Printed by John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock: James McKie, March 1867, →OCLC, page 184

verb

1. To bid farewell or say goodbye.
   He farewelled viewers with a warm sign-off after each bulletin: "May your news be good news, and goodnight." February 9, 2009, Neil Wilson and staff writers, “Tributes for newsman Brian Naylor and wife, killed in fires”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-11