Definition of "countermand"

countermand

/ˌkaʊntəˈmɑːnd/

verb
third-person singular simple present countermands, present participle countermanding, simple past and past participle countermanded
1. To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.
2. To recall a person or unit with such an order.
3. To cancel an order for (some specified goods).
  Quotations
  Three of the maids of honour ſent to countermand their birth-day cloaths; two of them burnt all their collections of novels and romances, and ſent to a bookſeller’s in Pall-mall to buy each of them a bible, and Taylor’s holy living and dying.
  1727, Jonathan Swift, A True and Faithful Narrative of What Passed in London
4. (figuratively) To counteract, to act against, to frustrate.
  Quotations
  Early on, Ezra gives her a lesson to countermand the endless female impulse to apologise: “Darling, don’t continually say ‘I’m sorry’. Next time you feel like saying ‘I’m sorry’, instead say ‘Fuck you’.”
  2018 February 28, Justine Jordan, “Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday review – a dizzying debut”, in The Guardian‎
5. (obsolete) To prohibit (a course of action or behavior).
  Quotations
  Avicen countermands letting blood in choleric bodles.
  1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions
6. (obsolete) To oppose or revoke the command of (someone).
  Quotations
  For us to alter anything, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him.
  1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)
7. (obsolete) To maintain control of, to keep under command.
  Quotations
  Two thousand horſe ſhal forrage vp and downe,That no reliefe or ſuccour come by land.And all the ſea my Gallies countermaund.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act III, scene i
noun
plural countermands
1. An order to the contrary of a previous one.

Definition of "countermand"

countermand

verb

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noun