Definition of "abandon" []

• To withdraw one's support or help from, especially in spite of duty, allegiance, or responsibility; desert: abandon a friend in trouble. (verb-transitive)
• To give up by leaving or ceasing to operate or inhabit, especially as a result of danger or other impending threat: abandoned the ship. (verb-transitive)
• To surrender one's claim to, right to, or interest in; give up entirely. See Synonyms at relinquish. (verb-transitive)
• To cease trying to continue; desist from: abandoned the search for the missing hiker. (verb-transitive)
• To yield (oneself) completely, as to emotion. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The one point they will never abandon is there will be no unlimited right of return."
• "I have many in my own extended family who would be said to have long abandoned the practice of their Faith, though sadly what they often abandon is not the Faith in its integrity, but the caricature that was passed on to them."
• "I would like to know what Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner have been smoking or drinking to make a statement like this "Today's employment report reminds us that spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is exactly what Democrats in charge of Washington have done all year long," For eight years the Republican spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon took a surplus into massive deficit themselfs."