Abandon

v. t. [imp. & p. p. ABANDONED; p. pr. & vb. n. ABANDONING.] [Fr. abandonner, Pr., Sp., & Pg. abandonar, It. abbandonare: n. Fr., Pr. abandon, It. abbandono, from O. Fr., Pr. bandon, arbitrariness, mercy, giving over, with the prep. a, Lat. ad. Bandon is from the Fr., Pr. ban, It., Sp., & Pg. bando, L. Lat. bandum, bannum, a public proclamation, interdiction; Sp., Pr. bandir, Pg. bandir, banir, It. bandire, Fr. bannir, to proclaim publicly; L. Lat. bannire, to proclaim, to proscribe; — from the Goth. bandvjan, banvjan, to show by signs, to designate; bandva, bandvo, sign; Russ. bindan, to bind. See BAN.]

1Sense 1. To outlaw; to banish; to exile; to drive out or away. [Obs.]

That he might . . . abandon them from him. Udal.

Being all this time abandoned from your bed. Shak.

2Sense 2. To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with, concern in, interest for, control of, or the like; to desert; to quit; to relinquish; to leave.

Hope was overthrown, and yet could not be abandoned. I. Taylor.

3Sense 3. Reflexively, to give one's self up without attempt at self-control; to yield one's self unrestrainedly; — generally in a bad sense.

4Sense 4. (Mar. Law.) To relinquish to underwriters all claim to; — used of an insured person who gives up all claim to the property covered by the policy which may remain after loss or damage by a peril insured against.

Synonyms—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 if placed under a ban; as, to abandon one's friends or profession. Crabb is wrong in saying that it is always used in a bad sense, since we speak of abandoning a hopeless enterprise, or abandoning a shipwrecked vessel. The Latin original of desert was primarily applied to the case of deserters from military service. Hence, the verb, when applied to persons in the active voice, has usually or always a bad sense, implying some breach of fidelity, honor, &c.; 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 is literally to seek forth and away from. It therefore, as its distinctive sense, supposes previous union; as, the blood forsook his cheeks; or that the thing left had been familiar or frequented; as, to forsake old friends, to forsake the paths of rectitude, &c. It may be used either in a good or a bad sense.