adjourn, v.
(əˈdʒɜːn)
Forms: 4 aiorne, 4–6 aiourne, 5–6 ajourn(e, 6 adiorn(e, 6– adjourn.
[a. OFr. ajorne-r, ajurne-r, ajourne-r:—late L. adiurnā-re, adjurnā-re, adjornā-re ‘diem dicere alicui,’ Ducange, f. ad to + late L. jurnus, jornus (cf. It. giorno, Pr. jorn, Fr. jour) a day:—cl. L. diurn-us daily, lasting for a day: see journal. The occasional MFr. ad- for a-, rejected in mod.Fr., has been retained in Eng. since 6.]
† 1. trans. To appoint (one) a day for his appearance; to cite or summon for a particular day; to remand (one) for justice to another day or occasion. Obs.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 309 He aiorned þam to relie in þe North at Carlele. c 1360 Chaucer A.B.C. 158 Ladi, vn to þat court þou me aiourne þat cleped is þi bench. 1530 Palsgr. 419/2, I adjourne, I monisshe or warne one to apere afore a judge at a daye certayne: Je semons. I am adjourned by the bysshops offycers. 1600 Holland Livy xlii. xxii. 1128 The Pretour..adjourned [jussit] the defendant to make appearance in the court upon the Ides of March. 1660 Howell, To Adjourn, or Cite to Apeer, citare, appellare. |
2. To defer or put off (a time, action, or state), prop. to another day; also indefinitely; to postpone, defer, put off.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy v. xxxvi, For they them caste the time not aiourne, For daye and nighte with her they soiourne. 1559 Myrroure for Mag., Suffolk xxii. 4 Fro place to place to adiourne it divers times. 1589 Warner Albion's Eng. vi. xxxi. (1612) 152 My Deitie adiornde therefore, in humaine forme I wowe. 1600 Chapman Iliad xvi. 74 No more let them ajourn Our sweet home-turning. 1725 Pope Odyssey xii. 33 This day adjourn your cares. 1847 Bushnell Chr. Nurt. iv. (1861) 102 Every law of physiology must be adjourned. 1861 Emerson Cond. Life ii. 50, I adjourn what I have to say on this topic. |
3. To adjourn (a meeting): To put off or defer its further proceedings to another day; to discontinue or dissolve it, in order to reconstitute it at another time or place.
| 1494 Fabyan an. 1433 (R.) Parlyament..was aiourned onto Seynt Edwardes day. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iv. 232 'Tis a needfull fitnesse That we adiourne this Court till further day. 1741 Middleton Cicero (1742) II. vi. 6 The Consul..immediately adjourned the Senate into the Capitol. 1880 W. MacCormac Antis. Surgery 71 The meeting..was adjourned for a fortnight. |
† 4. refl. (as in 5). Obs.
| a 1626 Bacon Adv. to Villiers (R.) By [the king] alone are they prorogued and dissolved; but each house may adjourn itself. 1641 in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 496 The Lords and Commons may Adjourn themselves to any place. 1669–70 Marvell Corr. 134 Wks. 1875 II. 300 The House..then adjournd themselves till Thursday. |
5. intr. (from refl.) Of persons met for business: To suspend proceedings and disperse for a time agreed upon, or sine die, that is, without specifying any day for reassembling. Also, to separate in order to meet at another place; hence famil. to remove the place of meeting, without the intervention of any time save that occupied by the change of place.
| 1641 in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 496 Touching the Houses Adjourning to any other place at their pleasure. 1718 Pope Iliad xix. 289 The speedy council at his word adjourn'd. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlviii. 25 From the church the people adjourned to the hippodrome. c 1815 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) I. xv. 94 They thence adjourned to eat ice at a pastry-cook's. |