RESIGN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Resign

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/rɪzˈaɪn/ /rizˈaɪn/ /risˈaɪn/ Listen

verb

Resign v. t. (past & past part. resigned; pres. part. resigning)

To sign back; to return by a formal act; to yield to another; to surrender; said especially of office or emolument. Hence, to give up; to yield; to submit; said of the wishes or will, or of something valued; also often used reflexively. "I here resign my government to thee." "Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign What justly thou hast lost." "What more reasonable, than that we should in all things resign up ourselves to the will of God?"

To relinquish; to abandon. "He soon resigned his former suit."

To commit to the care of; to consign. (Obs.) "Gentlement of quality have been sent beyong the seas, resigned and concredited to the conduct of such as they call governors."

Synonyms: To abdicate; surrender; submit; leave; relinquish; forego; quit; forsake; abandon; renounce. Resign, Relinquish. To resign is to give up, as if breaking a seal and yielding all it had secured; hence, it marks a formal and deliberate surrender. To relinquish is less formal, but always implies abandonment and that the thing given up has been long an object of pursuit, and, usually, that it has been prized and desired. We resign what we once held or considered as our own, as an office, employment, etc. We speak of relinquishing a claim, of relinquishing some advantage we had sought or enjoyed, of relinquishing seme right, privilege, etc. "Men are weary with the toil which they bear, but can not find it in their hearts to relinquish it." See Abdicate.

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Etymology of 'Resign'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Resign" Quotes from Famous Books

... sons of war, your houses; Heroic deeds for peace resign: Embrace your parents and your spouses, And all to whom your hearts incline: Behold your countrymen invite you, With open, arms, with open hearts; Here find whatever can delight you; Here friendship, love, ...

— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... herself. Would it not be best to resign herself to it, to close her eyes, and to await ...

— 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? • Franz Beyerlein

... and, as it was, Furbush had to nurse the steak in his lap. Mrs. Norris would have reached the picnicking ground in a procession of buggies, but at that Mary protested so vigorously that she was forced to resign. ...

— Tutors' Lane • Wilmarth Lewis

... to resign herself to the inevitable. "I hope you will, at least, tell me on whose behalf you acted," ...

— The Count's Millions - Volume 1 (of 2) • Emile Gaboriau

... conscience—the greatest of God's blessings in this life, and requiring therefore of every man a care and diligence to preserve it, he, apprehending a danger of losing it, if he continued at Wibberton a second Winter, did therefore resign it back into the hands of his worthy kinsman and patron, about one year after his donation of it ...

— Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert, - &C, Volume Two • Izaak Walton

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