Definition of "abandon"

abandon¹

/əˈbæn.dən/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.
  1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II. Volume 3, page 312
2. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue.
  Quotations
  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.
  2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 23, page 19
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.
  Quotations
  Hope was overthrown, and yet could not be abandoned.
  1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening‎, page 3
4. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
  Quotations
  Being all this time abandoned from your bed.
  1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act I, scene ii
6. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish.
7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

abandon²

/əˈbæn.dən/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural abandons
1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences.
  Quotations
  I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there. I saw it happen. It happened thus.'
  1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah
  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.
  2007 November 4, David M. Halbfinger, “The City That Never Sleeps, Comatose”, in The New York Times‎
2. (obsolete) abandonment; relinquishment.

Definition of "abandon"

abandon1

verb

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abandon2

noun

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abandon¹

abandon²