abjure

Verb

abjure (third-person singular simple present abjures, present participle abjuring, simple past and past participle abjured)

1. (formal, transitive) To solemnly reject (someone or something); to abandon (someone or something) forever; to disavow, to disclaim, to repudiate.
   • to abjure errors
   • Her[mia]. […] But I beſeech your Grace, that I may knovve / The vvorſt that may befall mee in this caſe, / If I refuſe to vved Demetrius. / The[seus]. Either to dy the death, or to abiure, / For euer, the ſociety of men.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]...

   Synonyms:

   renounce, deny, disavow, disclaim, disown, forsay, forswear, repudiate, wash one's hands of

2. (formal, historical, transitive) To renounce (something) upon oath; to forswear; specifically, to recant or retract (a heresy or some other opinion); to withdraw.
   • to abjure allegiance to a prince
   • [T]he man ye write of, was of many thinges borne wrõge [wrong] in hande, & therin ſo ſore handeled that he was forced to for ſwere and abiure certaine hereſyes, & openly to penance therfore, where he neuer held any ſuch.1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter I.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […]...

   Synonyms:

   disavow, renounce, backpedal, disown, eat one's words, recall, recant, retract, revoke, swallow

3. (formal, historical, transitive) To cause (someone) to recant or retract (a heresy or some other opinion).
   • [T]hey vvere betrayed, and then many of them to the number of ſix or ſeven ſcore vvere abjured, and three or four of them burnt. Novv although vve knevv not hovv to call theſe Martyrs vvho ſo ſuffered, their Names no doubt are vvritten in the Book of Life.a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Bark-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC...
4. (formal, historical, transitive) Especially in abjure the realm: to swear an oath to leave (a place) forever.
   • When a clerk heretofore was convicted of felony, he might have saved his life by abjuring the realm; that is, by departing the realm within a certain time appointed, and taking an oath never to return. But at this day all statutes for abjuration are repealed.a. 1680 (date written), Thomas Hobbes, “A Dialogue between a Philosopher & a Student of the Common Laws of England”, in William Molesworth, editor, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury...
   • [A]s a feme-covert recuſant may be impriſoned, ſo all others muſt, vvithin three months after conviction, either ſubmit and renounce their errors, or, if required ſo to do by four juſtices, muſt abjure and renounce the realm: and if they do not depart, or if they return vvithout the king's licence...1769, William Blackstone, “Of Offences against God and Religion”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 56
5. (formal, historical, obsolete, rare, transitive) To cause or compel (someone) to leave a place forever; to banish.
   • The ſtrong effect of theyr conceiued ire, / Vrging the vveake King vvith a violent hand, / T' abiure thoſe falſe Lords from the troubled land.1603, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Barrons Warres. The First Booke.”, in The Barrons Wars in the Raigne of Edward the Second. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC...
   • About this time a ſubject brought in a Bull of Excommunication againſt another ſubject of this Realm, and publiſhed it to the Lord Treaſurer of England, and this vvas by the ancient Common-Law of England adjudged Treason againſt the King, his Crovvn and dignity, for the vvhich, the offender ſhould...1655, Thomas Fuller, “Cent[ury] XIV. To Clement Throckmorton, the Elder, of Haseley in Warwick-shire, Esq”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, book III, page...
6. (formal, intransitive) To solemnly reject; to abandon forever.
   • Eaſily canſt thou find one miſerable, / And not inforc'd oft-times to part from truth; / If it may ſtand him more in ſtead to lye, / Say and unſay, feign, flatter, or abjure?1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 26, lines 470–473
7. (formal, historical, intransitive) To recant or retract a heresy on oath.
   • Nor neuer yet found I ani. j. [any one] but he would once abiure, though he neuer intended to kepe his othe.1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter XVI.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London...
   • And going toward the Justice Gate, many said to him, "Recant! Recant! Don't insist on dying," and he said, "Christ died for us." […] At the Field of Justice, one said to him he should do as a certain monk, his superior, had done, abjuring: but Michael answered that he would not abjure, and I saw...1983, Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver, The Name of the Rose (A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book), New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, page 238
8. (formal, historical, intransitive) To swear an oath to leave a place forever.
   • I Abiowre⸝ I forſake myne errours as an heretyke dothe⸝ or forſwere the kynges landes⸝ ie abiure, prime coniugationis.1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan...
   • Well to bee ſhort, what for the cauſes before recited, as alſo for that they had once alreadie abiured, and yet (as they terme it) fell againe into relapſe, they were both (as you haue heard) in the end burned together in Smithfield: […]1610 October, John Foxe, “The Historie of Diuers Good Men and Women, Persecuted for Religion in the Citie and Dioces of the Bishop of London, Briefly Extracted out of the Registers of Richard...