2. To renounce; to relinquish; — said of authority, a trust, duty,
right, etc.
He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke.
The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude.
3. To reject; to cast off. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
4. (Civil Law)
Defn: To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
Syn. — To give up; quit; vacate; relinquish; forsake; abandon; resign; renounce; desert. — To Abdicate, Resign. Abdicate commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, "The king resigned his crown," sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people. — There are other senses of resign which are not here brought into view.
ABDICATE
Ab"di*cate, v.i.
Defn: To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or
dignity.
Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for
the monarchy. Burke.
ABDICATION
Ab`di*ca"tion, n. Etym: [L. abdicatio: cf. F. abdication.]
Defn: The act of abdicating; the renunciation of a high office, dignity, or trust, by its holder; commonly the voluntary renunciation of sovereign power; as, abdication of the throne, government, power, authority.
ABDICATIVE
Ab"di*ca*tive, a. Etym: [L. abdicativus.]