dereliction
(dɛrɪˈlɪkʃən)
[ad. L. dērelictiōn-em, n. of action from dērelinquĕre: see derelict. Cf. obs. F. (16th c.) dereliction (Godef.).]
1. The action of leaving or forsaking (with intention not to resume); abandonment. (Now rare exc. in legal use.)
| a 1612 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 123 The next species of Homicide..is Permission, which when it is toward ourselves, is by the schoolemen usually called Desertion, or Dereliction. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. viii. ¶5 Repentance and dereliction of sins. 1782 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxvi. (1836) 586 This wise dereliction of obsolete, vexatious, and unprofitable claims. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 442 He recommended, if not a dereliction, at any rate a suspension of the design. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xi. (ed. 5) 176 Imposts..by long dereliction apparently obsolete. |
b. The condition of being forsaken or abandoned. Now rare.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xvii. §2 Dereliction in this world, and in the world to come confusion. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 98 That Jesus Christ did suffer dereliction of God really; that he was indeed deserted and forsaken of God. 1771 Junius Lett. lxvii. 330 The unhappy baronet has no friends..you are not reduced to so deplorable a state of dereliction. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 85 These mansions..whether their dereliction arises from the caprice or folly of their owners, etc. |
c. fig. The ‘abandonment’ or leaving dry of land by the sea; concr. the land thus left dry.
| 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 261 Lands newly created..by the alluvion or dereliction of the sea. 1804 Colebrooke Husb. Bengal (1806) 8 Land which has been gained by the dereliction of water. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. iv. 106 Norfolk has gained largely on the eastern side by the dereliction of the sea. |
2. In modern use implying a morally wrong or reprehensible abandonment or neglect; chiefly in the phr. dereliction of duty.
| 1778 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 217 A dereliction of every opinion and principle that I have held. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. iv. (1852) 90 He will not accept of compliments paid to his power at the expense of a dereliction of his royal claims. 1840 H. Ainsworth Tower of London viii, They would be answerable with their lives for any further dereliction of duty. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. Mal. ii. 11, Idolatry, the central dereliction of God. 1892 Ld. Esher in Law Times Rep. LXVII. 211/2 The plaintiffs have been guilty of a dereliction of duty, but for which the sewage matter would not flow into the stream. |
b. Hence absol. Failure in duty, delinquency.
| 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 11 In this case it was moral dereliction which gave to ridicule a weight and power not necessarily..belonging to it. 1841 Emerson Lect., Man the Reformer Wks. (Bohn) II. 236 The employments of commerce..are..vitiated by derelictions and abuses at which all connive. 1881 S. H. Hodgson Outcast Ess. 396 What! on thy guiltless children wilt thou call Lightly the curse of such a dereliction? 1882 Hinsdale Garfield & Educ. i. 396 Each pupil felt..that he owed her a personal apology for any dereliction or failure on his part. |
† 3. Failure, cessation; esp. sudden failure of the bodily or mental powers, fainting. Obs.
| 1647 H. More Song of Soul iii. App. lxxix, Of brasen sleep and bodi's derelictions. 1749 G. Lavington Enthus. Methodists (1820) 23 Derelictions, terrors, despairings. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xl. 91 The word eclipse..signifies dereliction, a fainting away, or swooning. 1797 E. M. Lomax Philanthrope 169 All at once, by some unfortunate dereliction of mind, he made a full stop. |
† b. Failure, defect, shortcoming. Obs.
| 1801 Fuseli in Lect. Paint. ii. (Bohn 1848) 383 Michelangelo..no doubt had his moments of dereliction. 1807 Opie ibid. i. 265 Michelangelo had derelictions and deficiencies too great to be overlooked. |