abdicate

Definitions

1. 1.To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke. The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude.
2. 2.To reject; to cast off. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
3. 3.(Civil Law) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. -- To Abdicate, Resign. Abdicate commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, "The king resigned his crown," sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people. -- There are other senses of resign which are not here brought into view.
4. 4.To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity. Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. Burke.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "abdicate" mean?
• What is another word for "abdicate"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is abdicate.

• What is to renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke. The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude called?
• What is to reject; to cast off. [Obs.] Bp. Hall called?
• What is to relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity. Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. Burke called?