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The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary · Project Gutenberg — chapter 7 of 12779 · ~602 words · public domain

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<blockquote>He <b>abandoned</b> himself . . . to his favorite vice. <i>Macaulay.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <fld>(Mar. Law)</fld> <def>To relinquish all claim to; -- used when an insured person gives up to underwriters all claim to the property covered by a policy, which may remain after loss or damage by a peril insured against.</def>

<syn>Syn. -- To give up; yield; forego; cede; surrender; resign; abdicate; quit; relinquish; renounce; desert; forsake; leave; retire; withdraw from.</syn> -- <usage><er>To Abandon</er>, <er>Desert</er>, <er>Forsake</er>. These words agree in representing a person as <i>giving up</i> or <i>leaving</i> 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, to abandon one's friends, places, opinions, good or evil habits, a hopeless enterprise, a shipwrecked vessel. <i>Abandon</i> is more widely applicable than <i>forsake</i> or <i>desert</i>. The Latin original of <i>desert</i> appears to have been originally applied to the case of deserters from military service. Hence, the verb, when used of <i>persons</i> in the active voice, has usually or always a bad sense, implying some breach of fidelity, honor, etc., the leaving of something which the person should rightfully stand by and support; as, to <i>desert</i> one's colors, to <i>desert</i> one's post, to <i>desert</i> one's principles or duty. When used in the passive, the sense is not necessarily bad; as, the fields were <i>deserted</i>, a <i>deserted</i> village, <i>deserted</i> halls. <i>Forsake</i> implies the breaking off of previous habit, association, personal connection, or that the thing left had been familiar or frequented; as, to forsake old friends, to <i>forsake</i> the paths of rectitude, the blood forsook his cheeks. It may be used either in a good or in a bad sense.</usage>

<h1>Abandon</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban"don</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>abandon</ets>. fr. <ets>abandonner</ets>. See <er>Abandon</er>, <ets>v</ets>.]</ety> <def>Abandonment; relinquishment.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<h1>Abandon</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A`ban`don"</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[F. See <er>Abandon</er>.]</ety> <def>A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.</def>

<h1>Abandoned</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban"doned</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Forsaken, deserted.</def> "Your <i>abandoned</i> streams."

<i>Thomson.</i>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Self-abandoned, or given up to vice; extremely wicked, or sinning without restraint; irreclaimably wicked ; <as>as, an <ex>abandoned</ex> villain</as>.</def>

<syn>Syn. -- Profligate; dissolute; corrupt; vicious; depraved; reprobate; wicked; unprincipled; graceless; vile.</syn> -- <usage><er>Abandoned</er>, <er>Profligate</er>, <er>Reprobate</er>. These adjectives agree in expressing the idea of great personal depravity. <er>Profligate</er> has reference to open and shameless immoralities, either in private life or political conduct; as, a <er>profligate</er> court, a <er>profligate</er> ministry. <er>Abandoned</er> is stronger, and has reference to the searing of conscience and hardening of heart produced by a man's giving himself wholly up to iniquity; as, a man of <er>abandoned</er> character. <er>Reprobate</er> describes the condition of one who has become insensible to reproof, and who is morally abandoned and lost beyond hope of recovery.</usage>

<blockquote> God gave them over to a <b>reprobate</b> mind. <i>Rom. i. 28.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Abandonedly</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban"doned*ly</hw>, <tt>adv.</tt> <def>Unrestrainedly.</def>

<h1>Abandonee</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban`don*ee"</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <fld>(Law)</fld> <def>One to whom anything is legally abandoned.</def>

<h1>Abandoner</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban"don*er</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>One who abandons.</def>

<i>Beau. & Fl.</i>

<h1>Abandonment</h1> <Xpage=2>

<hw>A*ban"don*ment</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[Cf. F. <ets>abandonnement</ets>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.</def>

<blockquote>The <b>abandonment</b> of the independence of Europe. <i>Burke.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Mar. Law)</fld> <def>The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Com. Law)</fld> <def>(a) The relinquishment of a right, claim, or privilege, as to mill site, etc. (b) The voluntary leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband, or child; desertion.</def>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>Careless freedom or ease; abandon.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<i>Carlyle.</i>

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