abandon

views updated May 11 2018

a·ban·don / əˈbandən/ • v. [tr.] 1. give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking): he had abandoned all pretense of trying to succeed. ∎  discontinue (a scheduled event) before completion. 2. cease to support or look after (someone); desert. ∎  leave (a place, typically a building) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return. ∎  leave (something, typically a vehicle or a vessel) decisively, esp. as an act of survival. ∎  (abandon someone/something to) condemn someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in or look after them: an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation.3. (abandon oneself to) allow oneself to indulge in (a desire or impulse): abandoning herself to moony fantasies.• n. complete lack of inhibition or restraint: she sings and sways with total abandon.DERIVATIVES: a·ban·don·ment n.

Abandon

views updated May 29 2018

Abandon ★★½ 2002 (PG-13)

“Traffic” screenwriter Stephen Gaghan makes his directorial debut in this psychological thriller that centers on bookworm college student Katie (Holmes) and her mysteriously missing boyfriend Embry (Hunnam). When police detective Wade (Bratt) arrives to question Katie two years after the disappearance of the eccentric Embry, she begins to see glimpses of him all over campus. The “twist” ending is fairly predictable, but the cast, particularly Union, Mann and Deschanel as Katie's classmates, get the most out of the script. Based on the book “Adam's Fall” by Sean Desmond. 99m/C VHS, DVD . US Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt, Charlie Hunnam, Zooey Deschanel, Gabrielle Union, Gabriel Mann, Mark Feuer-stein, Melanie Lynskey, Will McCormack, Philip Bosco, Tony Goldwyn, Fred Ward; D: Stephen Gaghan; W: Stephen Gaghan; C: Matthew Libatique; M: Clint Mansell.

abandon

views updated May 23 2018

abandon1 †subjugate; give up, orig. to the control of another XIV; †banish XVI. — OF. abandoner (mod. -nn-), f. phr. a bandon, i.e. a to (AD-), bandon jurisdiction, control, ult. f. *bandum, var. of medL. bannum BAN1.

abandon

views updated May 18 2018

abandon abandon hope all ye who enter here traditional rendering of the final line of the inscription over the gates of hell in Dante's Inferno.
abandon ship take to the lifeboats and leave a ship in imminent danger of sinking (often as a formal order to crew); in extended usage, desert what is seen as a failing organization.

abandon

views updated May 29 2018

abandon2 freedom from restraint. XIX. — F., f. abandonner (see prec.).