abandonmentn.
/əˈband(ə)nm(ə)nt/, U.S. /əˈbændənmənt/ 1. The surrender or devotion of oneself to an influence, passion, emotion, etc.; self-abandonment; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > opposition > absence of resistance > [noun] > to an influence, etc.
resignationa1500
abandonment1593
self-surrender1647
submittal1798
abandon1815
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 91 Now in the age of your obstinacie, and vngrateful abandonments, repent and be conuerted.
1689 I. W. tr. J. de Gonnelieu Daily Exercises Christian Life 218 An act of abandonment, putting your life, your soul, & your salvation, into the hands of God.
1717 W. Stoughton Greatest Good or Greatest Evil 27 The Reason of all this terrible Abandonment and Depravation.
1827 G. Griffin Tales Munster Festivals III. 156 He..fled in an abandonment of fear along the aisle, panting heavily, crossing himself..while his sight swam and wandered wildly over the place.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics I. vi. i. 198 Then understood this Master that true Abandonment, with utter Abasement, was the nearest way to God.
1858 R. W. Emerson Eloquence in Atlantic Monthly Sept. 391/1 Where heats and panics and abandonments are quite out of the system.
1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. 113 Not even abandonment to ‘herd enthusiasm’ could destroy the terrible loneliness of death.
1972 E. Burrows in D. Hall Contemp. Amer. Poetry 126 Honouring it, I dreamed again the fierce Abandonment to what one hates, the fox Joyful in pain and helplessness.
1992 I. Zarifopol-Johnston tr. E. M. Cioran Heights of Despair 82 He who..has not experienced a cold shiver, a sensation of ineluctable abandonment, cosmic death, and individual nothingness.
2. The state or condition of being abandoned by a person or people; an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 1 In my exile and irkesome discontented abandonment, the silliest millers thombe, or contemptible stickle-banck of my enemies, is as busie nibbling about my fame.
1679 R. Langhorne Memoires 16 O blessed Jesus, who upon thy Cross wert pleased To suffer an Abandonment.
1681 J. Innes tr. M. de Scudéry Femmes Illustres 134 In that abandonment, the unfortunate Athenais was skilfully made sensible, that she ought to retire from Court.
1753 J. S. G. Detector Detected 53 The Reward of their Service is..Abandonment to the Enemies they fought against.
1815 C. I. Johnstone Clan-Albin III. xxxii. 47 He now felt the immeasurable distance which lies between the fear of abandonment and the overpowering conviction that hope is for ever shut out.
1839 T. De Quincey Sketches Life & Manners in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 569/1 Fortitude which..could face an occasion of sudden mysterious abandonment.
1899 G. B. Ives tr. A. Daudet Robert Helmont 428 The melancholy spot is in keeping with..the atmosphere of abandonment which surrounds me.
1919 C. Mackenzie Sylvia & Michael ii. 39 The pension was strangely silent..this complete abandonment was tristful.
1990 J. Bradshaw Homecoming vi. 127 As the one with the fear of abandonment comes closer, the one with the fear of engulfment runs away.
2004 Wanderlust June 53/2 There was a sense of abandonment, of a place left behind and slowly decaying in its own bubble of time.
3. The action of relinquishing, giving up, or forsaking something; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > casting or laying aside > [noun] > forsaking
forsakingc1320
abandoninga1500
abandonment1611
derelictiona1631
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Abandon, the quitting, abandonment, or prostitution of a thing vnto others.
1657 S. Du Verger Humble Refl. v. 65 A perfect dispossession and abandonment of all things.
1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. iii. i. 148 A national secession, or abandonment of our native Seats for some other Soil or Climate.
1788 E. Burke Speech against W. Hastings in Wks. (1822) XIII. 468 Mr. Hastings's abandonment of all his own pretences.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV cxxvii. 66 'Tis a base Abandonment of reason to resign Our right of thought.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xvii. 179 I regard the abandonment of the brig as inevitable.
1929 Times 14 June 16/6 Abandonment of the policy of collective farming, which the peasants regard as a revival of serfdom.
1958 J. Wain Contenders xi. 250 She had submerged her will in Robert's, but without any abject abandonment of her own personality.
2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) iv. 106 Some see juries as a block to better synergy and see their abandonment as a crucial step to seamless legal cooperation.
4. Commercial Law (chiefly in marine insurance). The relinquishment to the underwriters of all interest in property insured after a loss; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > [noun] > in compliance with demand
abandon1755
abdication1755
abandonment1787
cession1788
1787 J. Millar Elements Law Insurances ii. iii. 308 With regard to wager policies upon a common mercantile voyage, there cannot..be any abandonment, because the owner has no interest which he can cede to the underwriters.
1790 A. J. Dallas Rep. Cases Pennsylvania 1 11 The Captain having set up the Vessel to sale..for about one fourth of the Sum insured, and this being acquiesced in by the Plaintiffs, there was no abandonment.
1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. Insurance ii. 7 Abandonment is as ancient as the Contract of Insurance itself.
1848 J. Arnould Law Marine Insurance II. iii. vi. 992 Abandonment therefore is the act of cession, by which..the assured, on condition of receiving at once the whole amount of the insurance, relinquishes to the underwriters all his property and interest in the thing insured.
1892 Insurance Law Jrnl. 21 497 There may be an abandonment of the vessel, and a claim for the full amount of the insurance upon the ground of a total constructive loss.
1922 Minnesota Law Rev. 6 151 An equitable right to specific performance is abandonable..mere lapse of time will not amount to waiver or abandonment.
1995 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 8 Aug. The shipowners were paid for the loss of the ship and abandoned it to the underwriters, who refused to accept the abandonment.
5. Complete freedom from constraint or inhibition; careless freedom; an instance of this. Cf. abandon n.2 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > unaffectedness or naturalness > [noun] > naturalness or lack of constraint
unconstrainedness1656
shamelessness1667
unconstraint1713
self-abandonment1811
abandon1815
abandonment1834
self-abandon1837
free-and-easiness1842
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. v, in Fraser's Mag. Mar. 304/2 Gaily in light, graceful abandonment, the friendly talk played round that circle.
1842 E. B. Barrett Bk. Poets in Athenæum 25 June 560/1 The elasticity and abandonment of Shakspeare.
1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby I. iii. i. 249 His manner was frank even to abandonment.
1909 G. Stein Three Lives (1970) 137 They flung themselves free in their wide abandonment of shouting laughter.
1965 W. Lamb Posture & Gesture vii. 97 There are those in whom ‘abandonment’ and ‘rigidity’ are very close together.
2001 Daily Tel. 9 Nov. 25/6 But all the while there is the music, notes of abandonment and encroaching madness.
Phrases
notice of abandonment n. a formal notification of intent to give up or relinquish something; (frequently) spec. in Commercial Law (chiefly in marine insurance) a formal assurance of intent to relinquish to the underwriters all interest in property insured after a loss; cf. sense 4.
ΚΠ
1781 J. Weskett Compl. Digest Theory, Laws, & Pract. Insurance 497 The plaintiffs, on the 26th of January 1780..gave a formal notice of abandonment, to the insurers, demanded a total loss, and brought actions against them for the same.
1824 Observer 1 Mar. 3/5 A notice of abandonment had been given to the underwriters, and the plaintiffs claimed as for a total loss.
1885 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 15 11 Notice of abandonment need not be given to the underwriters of a policy of re-insurance.
1905 Official Gaz. 11 Apr. 1583/1 This is a petition from the Examiner's ruling that the above-entitled application [for a patent] is abandoned... The only action taken between the notice of abandonment and the filing of this petition was a letter from the attorney.
1954 W. G. Hays in C. E. McDowell & H. M. Gibbs Ocean Transportation xviii. 363 After they have received notice of abandonment from the owner, the underwriters are under obligation either to accept or to decline the abandonment within a reasonable time.
2009 Fiji Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 12 Sept. 2 We have informed the under writers that we regard her as a constructive total loss. We have given notice of abandonment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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