▪ I. reˈsign, n. rare.
[f. the vb.]
Resignation.
| 1639 Chapman & Shirley Chabot v. sig. H3v, My free Resigne of title, office,..would buy my poore lives safety. 1640 Shirley Constant Maid i. i, To delay The free resign of that your worth may challenge. 1640 ― Coronation iv. i, You have gain'd more in a royall brother Then you could lose by your resigne of Epire. 1971 J. V. Allen Cowboy Lore iv. 159 It was a pistol shot that laid Pete out, It was his last resign. |
▪ II. resign, v.1
(rɪˈzaɪn)
Forms: 4–6 resygn(e, 6 reasygne, 4– resign; 5 resyne, 5–6 resine; 5 res(s)yng(e, 6 Sc. resing.
[ad. OF. resigner (13th c.), † resiner (= Sp. and Pg. resignar, It. ri-, rassegnare), ad. L. resignāre to unseal, cancel, give up, f. re- re- 2 d + signāre to sign.]
I. trans.
1. To relinquish, surrender, give up, or hand over (something). Also with up (now rare) and const. to a person, into one's hands. a. an office, position, right, claim, etc.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 64 Þei..resignen not here benefis goten þus by symonye. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 415 He resignede his dignite to Linus. c 1400 Brut cl. 162 Here y resyngn op þe crone of þe reaume of Engeland into þe Popis Hande. c 1440 J. Capgrave St. Kath. iv. 93 But these same..leften here honour and resigned her right. 1544 Supplic. Hen. VIII (E.E.T.S.) 33 If he repent not, and reasygne vp hys offyce, which he can not execute. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 573 To whom their living they resigned quight For a few pence. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 767 Sigebert..resigned vp his kingdome. 1671 Milton P.R. i. 27 The Baptist..would have resign'd To him his Heavenly Office. 1731 Fielding Lottery Air xx, Resign over all pretensions in her to me. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Paris, I..should have resigned all my places one after another. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 348 Upon his resigning the great seal. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 92 The see of York, the ancient claims of which to equality with Canterbury he was forced to resign. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 339/2 Non-commissioned officers are not allowed to resign their situation to escape trial by court-martial. |
| fig. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 1039 Her eyes..resign their office and their light To the disposing of her troubled brain. 1781 Cowper Hope 33 Would age in thee resign his wintry reign, And youth invigorate that frame again. |
b. something pertaining to one or in one's possession or charge.
The uses in quots. 1600 and 1615 are uncommon.
| c 1450 Godstow Reg. 202 Elenore..resinid & quiet-claimyd..to þe house of seint Iohn baptiste of Godestowe..iiij. d of rente. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 713 That all Northumberland And Cumbria he sould frelie resing, Into the handis of this Dauid king. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 176 Take but my shame, and I resigne my gage. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 207 The Duke exhorted Tristan Vaz with many reasons to resigne the forte. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 4 Resigne then what thou owest, or forbeare To taxe our credits when our skore's not cleere. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 749 Desirous to resigne, and render back All I receav'd. 1731 Swift Consid. Two Bills Wks. 1751 XII. 103 The late Archbishop..stipulated with the Tenant to resign up twenty or thirty Acres to the Minister of the Parish. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xliv. IV. 347 The divorced wife resigned the bunch of keys, by the delivery of which she had been invested with the government of the family. 1838 Lytton Alice i. i, You resigned all that would have attracted others. 1839 Thirlwall Greece xlvi. VI. 73 The commonwealth was required..to resign a great part of its foreign possessions. |
| transf. a 1823 Mrs. Radcliffe Moonlight in Gaston de Blondeville (1826) IV. 251 Who, silent, watch the bark the coast resign, The Pharos lessen, and the mountains fade. |
c. a task, charge, etc.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 211 All sic crymes in luffis caus I resing To the confessioun of morall Ihon Gower. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 688 Suspicion sleeps At wisdoms Gate, and to simplicitie Resigns her charge. 1715 Pope Iliad iv. 378 To you the glorious conflict I resign. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 551 Then why resign into a stranger's hand A task as much within your own command? |
d. one's life, being, soul, etc.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 191 What should I d'on this Robe..to day, To morrow yeeld vp rule, resigne my life? 1646 Milton Sonn. xiv. 3 Meekly thou didst resign this earthy load Of Death, call'd Life. 1665 Dryden Ind. Emp. v. ii, If Blood you seek, I will my own resign. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 133 ¶5 Noble and Heroick Minds that have resigned this Being. 1796 Morse Amer. Geogr. I. 317 note, He resigned a life, which had been singularly devoted to the welfare of his country. 1819 Shelley Cenci iv. i. 63 That done, My soul, which is a scourge, will I resign Into the hands of him who wielded it. |
e. something aimed at or desired.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 33 The praise of artful Numbers I resign. 1736 Gray Statius i. 23 The palm despair'd resign. 1849 M. Arnold Resignation Poems (1906) 76 Be passionate hopes not ill resign'd For quiet, and a fearless mind. |
2. a. To give up, make over, abandon, consign to a person, thing, or condition.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 682 And therfor to the feend I the resigne, Let him endyten of thi treccherie. 1589 [? Nashe] Almond for Parrat 11 Whether he would haue the care of the commonwealth..resigned to the retorting of T.C. his unreuerent railings. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 301 So Law appears..but giv'n With purpose to resign them in full time Up to a better Cov'nant. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 124 The light Stubble, to the Flames resign'd, Is driv'n along, and crackles in the Wind. 1704 Swift T. Tub vi, His two Brethren..for ever discarded from his House, and resigned to the wide World. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. viii, Mr. Burchell..resigned her up to the chaplain. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest viii, Had I resigned you to his will I should have remained secure. c 1860 Bryant A Sick-bed xi, Then to the sleep I crave Resign me. |
b. To yield up (oneself, etc.) with confidence to another for care or guidance.
| c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 80 Myn hele in-to thyn hand al I resigne. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 1886 With louyng chere..Hir hert to him she did resigne. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xlii. 113 Forsake þiself, resigne up þiself, & þou shalt fruisshe gret pes. 1642 Rogers Naaman 130 [She] will not..resigne up her selfe to God. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 148 Was shee made thy guide,..that to her Thou did'st resigne thy Manhood? 1751 Doddridge in Paraph. Ch. Scot. xliv. 5 To thee, as to our cov'nant God, We'll our whole selves resign. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 79 He..vows to resign himself to her direction. |
c. To make surrender of (one's will, reason, etc.), in reliance upon another.
| 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 29 Amongst our hands, he must his witts resing, A holy trance to highest heauen him bring. 1647 Cowley Mistr., The Soul iii, If my Will do not resign All her Liberty to thine. c 1698 Locke Some Thoughts on Conduct of Understanding (1881) 61 Those who always resign their judgment to the last man they heard or read. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 130 To..Resign our own and seek our Maker's will. |
d. To give (oneself, one's mind, etc.) up to some emotion, condition, or state. Also const. with inf.
| 1718 Pope Iliad xiii. 590 æneas..for a space resign'd To tender pity all his manly mind. 1738 tr. Guazzo's Art Convers. 16 They did not so absolutely resign themselves up to a solitary Life, as to be entirely regardless of their neighbours. 1791 Cowper Retired Cat 61, I will resign myself to rest. 1815 Shelley Alastor 628 Yet a little, ere it fled, Did he resign his high and holy soul To images of the majestic past. 1898 G. B. Shaw You never can Tell ii. 265 She smiles in spite of herself, and resigns herself to indulge him a little. a 1953 E. O'Neill More Stately Mansions (1964) i. ii. 39 Resign myself to be a grandmother! |
† 3. To give over, desist or refrain from. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 25 Thei dredyn shame, and vices thei resigne. c 1440 Partonope 3413* Of this and more..Myne autor seyth which shall not fyne. Hem to reherse I will resyne. 1492 Ryman Poems xlix. i. in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXIX. 215 Now is tyme for to inclyne To vertue, and synne to resyne. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. xi. 5 Whom when the Gyaunt saw, he soone resinde His former suit, and from them fled apace. |
† 4. To cause (a person) to give up his place.
| 1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 286 That party made their braggs that they would resigne Arlington at his Returne. |
II. intr.
5. a. To give up an office or position; to retire; † to abdicate.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 8289 At laste to reule it him thoght herd. He resygned and went away. a 1470 Gregory Chron. in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 76 And that yere..he resynyd, and Edwarde his sone..was crounyd. 1530 Palsgr. 688/1 He is contented to resyne, but he demaundeth to great a pencyon. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 190, I thought you had been willing to resigne. |
| 1744 H. Walpole Lett. II. 3 Lord Granville has resigned: that is the term. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 37 Where a clerk..entered into a general bond to the patron, to resign whenever the patron should require him. 1860 J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 7 If my Lord bishop wants to resign. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 339/2 Non-commissioned officers..can resign when they find themselves unequal to perform the duties of their rank. |
b. orig. U.S. Const. from.
| 1885 J. Hawthorne Love or a Name 95 Is it true..that you have resigned from the Compensation Fund Commission? 1905 ‘M. E. Wilkins’ Debtor 171 You would say at once they ought to be forced to resign from their offices. 1926 G. B. Shaw Translations & Tomfooleries 235 My brothers said I ought to resign from my clubs. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. II. 68/1 In 1922 he resigned from office and was raised to the peerage as earl of Balfour. 1973 Howat & Taylor Dict. World Hist. 1619/2 In April 1951 he resigned from the government..in protest against an increase in social service charges. 1980 Times 20 Aug. 1/2 Mr A. J. P. Taylor resigned from the British Academy over what he described as a witch hunt by some members to remove Professor Anthony Blunt. |
6. To submit, to yield, to a person or thing. Now rare.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xlii. 113 Somme resigneþ, but with som excepcion, for þei trust not fully to god. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 59 Vile earth to earth resigne, end motion here. 1701 Collier M. Aurel. (1726) 19 That we should..resign to his wisdom, and adore his goodness. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 173, I will hope still the best, and resign to God's Will and his. 1805 E. de Acton Nuns of Desert I. 288 Sophia and Emily Selwyn endeavoured to resign to their destiny. 1827 Examiner 325/2 The sun is resigning to the softer sway of the moon. 1861 F. Nightingale Nursing ii. (ed. 2) 23 People..take every disease as a matter of course, to be ‘resigned to’. |
7. To make surrender or relinquishment.
| 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxxix. ii, Thy Voice would break the Bars of Death, And make the Grave resign. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus viii. 9 Now she resigns thee; child, do thou resign no less. a 1964 in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 75 ‘Die or resign, Jack Donahoe!’ they [sc. police] shouted in their joy. |
▪ III. † reˈsign, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[ad. L. resignāre to unseal: see prec.]
trans. To disclose, reveal.
| 1595 B. Barnes Div. Cent. Sonn. xxi, Whome with thine angels manna thou didst feede,..When Moyses first thy statutes did resigne. |