Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Abandon \A*ban"don\ ([.a]*b[a^]n"d[u^]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   {Abandoned} (-d[u^]nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Abandoning}.] [OF.
   abandoner, F. abandonner; a (L. ad) + bandon permission,
   authority, LL. bandum, bannum, public proclamation,
   interdiction, bannire to proclaim, summon: of Germanic
   origin; cf. Goth. bandwjan to show by signs, to designate
   OHG. ban proclamation. The word meant to proclaim, put under
   a ban, put under control; hence, as in OE., to compel,
   subject, or to leave in the control of another, and hence, to
   give up. See {Ban}.]
   1. To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
      [Obs.]

            That he might . . . abandon them from him. --Udall.

            Being all this time abandoned from your bed. --Shak.

   2. To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely; to renounce
      utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on;
      to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or
      fidelity; to quit; to surrender.

            Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned.
                                                  --I. Taylor.

   3. Reflexively: To give (one's self) up without attempt at
      self-control; to yield (one's self) unrestrainedly; --
      often in a bad sense.

            He abandoned himself . . . to his favorite vice.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   4. (Mar. Law) To relinquish all claim to; -- used when an
      insured person gives up to underwriters all claim to the
      property covered by a policy, which may remain after loss
      or damage by a peril insured against.

   Syn: To give up; yield; forego; cede; surrender; resign;
        abdicate; quit; relinquish; renounce; desert; forsake;
        leave; retire; withdraw from.

   Usage: {To Abandon}, {Desert}, {Forsake}. These words agree
          in representing a person as giving up or leaving some
          object, but differ as to the mode of doing it. The
          distinctive sense of abandon is that of giving up a
          thing absolutely and finally; as, to abandon one's
          friends, places, opinions, good or evil habits, a
          hopeless enterprise, a shipwrecked vessel. Abandon is
          more widely applicable than forsake or desert. The
          Latin original of desert appears to have been
          originally applied to the case of deserters from
          military service. Hence, the verb, when used of
          persons in the active voice, has usually or always a
          bad sense, implying some breach of fidelity, honor,
          etc., the leaving of something which the person should
          rightfully stand by and support; as, to desert one's
          colors, to desert one's post, to desert one's
          principles or duty. When used in the passive, the
          sense is not necessarily bad; as, the fields were
          deserted, a deserted village, deserted halls. Forsake
          implies the breaking off of previous habit,
          association, personal connection, or that the thing
          left had been familiar or frequented; as, to forsake
          old friends, to forsake the paths of rectitude, the
          blood forsook his cheeks. It may be used either in a
          good or in a bad sense.