definition of the word abandon

• (UK) IPA: /əˈbændən/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

From Old French abandoner, formed from à + bandon (“‘jurisdiction, control’”), from Mediaeval Latin bannum (“‘proclamation’”), from Frankish *ban, from Proto-Germanic *bannan (“‘proclaim, command’”) ( > English ban), from Proto-Indo-European *bha- (“‘to speak’”).

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

1. (transitive) To give up control of, to surrender.
   • Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned. — I. Taylor
2. (transitive) To leave behind, to desert.

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

3. (transitive, obsolete) To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
   • 1594: Being all this time abandoned from your bed. — Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, I-ii
4. (transitive) To relinquish a claim to property to underwriters.

• abandonment
• abandonware

Definition from Wiktionary Content avaible with GNU Free Documentation License

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