discontinue, v.
(dɪskənˈtɪnjuː)
Also 5–6 -tyn-, -ew.
[a. F. discontinue-r (14th c. in Littré), ad. med.L. discontinuā-re, f. dis- 4 + continuāre to continue.]
I. trans.
1. To cause to cease; to cease from (an action or habit); to break off, put a stop to, give up.
| 1479 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 414 King Edwarde the thirdde..exemptid the saide maires, and discontynewed theym, to feche their saide charges at the castell yate of the foresaide Constable. 1553 Act 1 Mary 3rd Sess. c. 7. §1 Many good Clothiers..have been enforced to leave off and clearly discontinue their Cloth-making. 1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 95 It doth not disanull, but discontinue life. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 589 The queen hath been pleased to order that the monthly fast should for the present be discontinued. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 140 [He] begg'd that he would discontinue his Visits. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 33 They never discontinue their work on account of the darkness. 1893 Law Times XCV. 5/2 Persons who had been customers discontinued their custom. |
b. ellipt. To cease to take or receive, give or pay; to give up, leave off.
| Mod. I shall discontinue the newspaper at the end of the year. He has discontinued his subscription to the Society. |
† 2. To cease to frequent, occupy, or inhabit.
| 14.. Mann. & Househ. Exp. 555 Mowe I be ryte well..loged here, ȝete I wol nat desskontenew that kontery, bote some tyme ther and some tyme here as schal plese me beste. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iv. 75 Men shall sweare I haue discontinued schoole Aboue a twelue moneth. 1599 ― Much Ado v. i. 192, I must discontinue your companie. 1645 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 166 A great city..now discontinued and demolished by the frequent earthquakes. |
3. Law. a. To dismiss or abandon (a suit, etc.).
| 1487 Act 3 Hen. VII, c. 10 Yf..the seid writte of errour be discontynued in defaute of the partie. 1589 Act 31 Eliz. c. 1. 1607–72 Cowell s.v. Discontinuance, To be discontinued, and to be put sine die, is all one, and nothing else but to be dismissed finally the Court. 1704 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 501 Yesterday the lords adjourned..having first discontinued the writt of error brought by Dr. Watson..he having not assign'd errors in due time. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. s.v. Discontinuance, A rule to discontinue is obtained by a plaintiff when he finds that he has misconceived his action. 1891 Law Times XC 473/1 After delivery of defence the plaintiff discontinued his action. |
† b. To alien land in such a manner as operates to the ‘discontinuance’ of the heir in tail. Obs.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 60 Preamb., The seid John Mayne in his lyf discontinued dyvers londes and tenementis whiche were intailed to him and to his Auncestres. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 32 b, The continuance of the tenancye in the tenaunte and in his bloode by the alyenacion is discontinued. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law ix. (1636) 37 If tenant in taile discontinue, and the discontinuee make a lease for life. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 255 A fine is one of those assurances by which an estate tail may be discontinued. |
† 4. To break the continuity of; to interrupt, disrupt, sunder. Obs.
| 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1154/1 A man hathe greate cause of feare and heauines that continueth alway stil in welth, discontinued wyth no tribulacion. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxvii. 310 By heating a lump of Crystal..and quenching it in..Water, it would be discontinu'd by..a multitude of Cracks. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 149 This bank of Earth..is discontinued by seven..breaks or apertures..by which the Lagune communicate with the gulf. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 814 Solid bodies..being once discontinued, are not easily consolidated together again. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Disease, The bones, and flesh..may be..discontinued by fractures, and contusions. |
II. intr.
5. To cease to continue; to cease, stop.
| 1555 Eden Decades 33 Leaste theyre handes shulde discontinewe from sheadinge of bludde. 1568–9 Act 11 Eliz. in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 318 The O Neyles and other of the Irishrie..tooke opportunitie to withdraw from their duetie of allegeance..and so discontinued uncontrolled untill the foure and thirtieth yeare of..King Henry the eight. 1580 Baret Alv. D 792 To discontinue a while from labour. |
† b. To be cut off or severed from; to cease to reside; to be absent. Obs.
| 1611 Bible Jer. xvii. 4 And thou, euen thyselfe, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gaue thee. 1677 S. Herne Domus Carthusiana 188 They have liberty..to discontinue two months in a year. |
† 6. To cease to be continuous; to become disrupted. Obs.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §24 Stillicides of Water..will Draw themselues into a small thread, because they will not discontinue. |