abandon definition

English abandon definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈbæn.dən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: aban‧don

Etymology 1

• From Middle English abandounen, from Old French abandoner, formed from a (“at, to”) + bandon (“jurisdiction, control”),^[1] from Late Latin bannum (“proclamation”), bannus,^[2] 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

abandon (third-person singular simple present abandons, present participle abandoning, simple past and past participle abandoned)

1. (transitive) To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)]^[1]
   • 1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II. Volume 3, page 312:

     […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.

2. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)]^[1]
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[2], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     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.

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. [First attested in the late 15^th century.]^[1]

   Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.

   She abandoned her husband for a new man.

   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening‎^[3], page 3:

     Hope was overthrown, and yet could not be abandoned.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 16^th century.]^[1]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject. [Attested from the mid 16^th century until the mid 17^th century.]^[1]
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act I, scene ii:

     Being all this time abandoned from your bed.

6. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. [First attested in the mid 18^th century.]^[1]

   I hereby abandon my position as manager.

7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Noun

abandon (countable and uncountable, plural abandons)

1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. [Early 19th century.]^[1][3]

   Synonyms: wantonness, unrestraint, libertinism, abandonment, profligacy, unconstraint

   • 1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah:

     I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there. I saw it happen. It happened thus.'

   • 2007 November 4, David M. Halbfinger, “The City That Never Sleeps, Comatose”, in The New York Times‎^[4]:

     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.

2. (obsolete) abandonment; relinquishment.

Derived terms

• with gay abandon

Translations

References

French abandon definition

Etymology

From Old French (mettre) a bandon (“to deliver”, literally “to place in someone's power”). Gamillscheg suggests a derivation from Old French a ban donner, but the Trésor de la langue française considers this unlikely, as the phrase is not attested.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.bɑ̃.dɔ̃/

• (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Noun

abandon m (plural abandons)

1. surrender; desertion; withdrawal

   abandon scolaire ― the action of dropping out of school

   abandon de poste ― desertion of one's post

2. abandonment, abandoning

   faire l’abandon de quelque chose ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   tour d’abandon ― foundling wheel

3. state of neglect

   être à l’abandon ― to be in a state of complete neglect

   laisser à l’abandon ― to abandon; to allo to fall into decay;

4. (literary) abandon, unrestraint (yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint)

Derived terms

• abandonner

Descendants

• Norwegian Bokmål: abandon

Further reading

• “abandon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian abandon definition

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

abandon m (plural abandons)

1. abandonment

References

• ARLEF
• Dizionari Furlan Talian

Middle English abandon definition

Alternative forms

• abandoun, abaundun

Etymology

From Old French abandon.

Adverb

abandon (not comparable)

1. Freely; entirely.
   • 1330, Arthour and Merlin:

     His ribbes and scholder fel adoun / Men might se the liver abandoun.

     His ribs and shoulder fell down / Men might see the liver entirely.

References

• “abandǒun, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål abandon definition

Etymology

From French abandon (“surrender, abandonment”), from Old French mettre a bandon (“to deliver, place at someone's disposition”), last part from Frankish *ban, *bann, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, command, summon, ban”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak, say”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abaŋˈdɔŋ/, /abanˈdɔŋ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔŋ
• Hyphenation: a‧ban‧don

Noun

abandon m (definite singular abandonen, indefinite plural abandoner, definite plural abandonene)

1. (law) the right to, under certain circumstances, waive ownership of an insured ship or cargo to the insurer and claim compensation for total loss
2. (obsolete) indifference
   • 1917, Ludvig Daae, Paul Botten Hansen, page 64:

     [Botten Hansen] skrev med saa stor abandon, at mere end een troskyldig læser indigneredes paa hans vegne

     [Botten Hansen] wrote with such great abandon that more than one innocent reader was indignant on his behalf

   • 1992, Olaf Bull, Ild og skygger, page 101:

     den evige varme pludringen hos denne damen, med intelligente smaa «abandoner» i tanken, denne uendelige «bjerg- og dalbane» i tanken

     the eternal hot chatter of this lady, with intelligent little "abandons" in the tank, this endless "roller coaster" in the tank

Derived terms

References

• “abandon” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Polish abandon definition

Etymology

Borrowed from French abandon.^[1][2] First attested in 1830.^[3]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈban.dɔn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -andɔn
• Syllabification: a‧ban‧don

Noun

abandon m inan

1. (law, nautical) legal waiving of rights to one's ship that has lost trade value (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)

   zgłoszenie abandonu ― registration of abandonment of one's ship

Declension

Related terms

References

Further reading

• abandon in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• abandon in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• abandon in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Romanian abandon definition

Etymology

Borrowed from French abandon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.banˈdon/

Noun

abandon n (plural abandonuri)

1. abandonment
2. renouncement

Declension

Related terms

• abandona