The word abolish might stir up some historical connotations, since in the U.S. it's commonly associated with bringing an end to slavery. In fact, those who opposed slavery were called "abolitionists." Coming to us from the Latin word abolere, meaning to "destroy, cause to die out, or retard the growth of," these days abolish is used bring a final and official-sounding end to laws, codes and other non-crowd pleasing practices.