absolve
verbUK /əbˈzɒlv/ · US /æbˈzɑlv/
Etymology First attested in the early 15th century. From Middle English absolven, from Latin absolvere (“set free, acquit”), from ab (“away from”) + solvō (“loosen, free, release”). Doublet of assoil.
8 senses
- 1To set free, release or discharge (from obligations…
- 2To resolve; to explain; to solve.
- 3To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty…
- 4To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for.
- 5To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to.
- 6To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin.
- 7To finish; to accomplish.
- 8To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to…
1
To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.).
- You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.
- Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:
1 more example
- The Committee divided, and Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 410:
2
Obsolete To resolve; to explain; to solve.
- 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332, […] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]
- we ſhall not abſolve the doubt.1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the blackneſſe of Negroes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 276:
3
To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt.
- A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.1993, Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers, Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, Second edition, Games Workshop, page 22:
4
Law To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for.
- Abſolves the juſt, and dooms the guilty ſouls.1725, Homer, “Book XI”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 121, line 702:
- To make confession and to be absolved.1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 5:
- In his name I abſolve your perjury and ſanctify your arms: follow my footſteps in the paths of glory and ſalvation; and if ſtill ye have ſcruples, devolve on my head the puniſhment and the ſin.1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 447:
7
Obsolete To finish; to accomplish.
- and the work begun, how ſoon / Abſolv'd,1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 93–94:
8
To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to qualify academically.
- Derived terms
- absolvable, absolvement, absolver, reabsolve, unabsolve
- Related terms
- absolutionary, absolutive, absolutory, absolvatory