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to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert:
to abandon one’s farm; to abandon a child; to abandon a sinking ship.
to give up; discontinue; withdraw from:
to abandon a research project; to abandon hopes for a stage career.
to give up the control of:
to abandon a city to an enemy army.
to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses, usually without self-control:
to abandon oneself to grief.
Law. to cast away, leave, or desert, as property or a child.
Insurance. to relinquish (insured property) to the underwriter in case of partial loss, thus enabling the insured to claim a total loss.
Obsolete. to banish.
a complete surrender to natural impulses without restraint or moderation; freedom from inhibition or conventionality:
to dance with reckless abandon.
Contemporary Examples

The only other alternatives are either for the priest to abandon the priesthood or for the relationship to carry on in secret.
The Vatican’s Real Housewives: 26 Women Petition Pope to Let Priests Marry Barbie Latza Nadeau May 19, 2014

The stock market is not going to push Republicans to abandon their rigid no-revenue approach to resolving the sequester.
Why Wall Street Is Ignoring the Arrival of the Sequester Daniel Gross February 28, 2013

Does that mean that we can expect Jews to abandon the president and his party in significant numbers in 2012?
Don’t Sweat the Jewish Vote Eric Alterman September 15, 2011

Pundits are pointing to the Republicans’ capture of Anthony Weiner’s seat as a sign that Jews will abandon the Democrats in 2012.
Don’t Sweat the Jewish Vote Eric Alterman September 15, 2011

Do we abandon David Copperfield or Great Expectations and grow up to live in the novels of Anthony Trollope?
Writing For Teens Vs. Adults: Rowling As Case Study Seth Lerer October 2, 2012

Historical Examples

If I were a man, I should like to abandon a false scent as soon as possible.’
A Laodicean Thomas Hardy

It seemed to her heart-breaking that Martin must be forced to abandon the only things for which he cared.
Dust Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius

Unless we help them they must abandon their homes, their all.
The Complete Story of the Galveston Horror Various

It was about the 24th or 25th of January, that they resolved to abandon the ship.
The Field of Ice Jules Verne

Will Phelps advanced as if he was about to open the door, but a silent gesture from Hawley caused him to abandon the project.
Winning His “W” Everett Titsworth Tomlinson

verb (transitive)
to forsake completely; desert; leave behind: to abandon a baby, drivers had to abandon their cars
abandon ship, the order given to the crew of a ship that is about to sink to take to the lifeboats
to give up completely: to abandon a habit, to abandon hope
to yield control of or concern in; relinquish: to abandon office
to give up (something begun) before completion: to abandon a job, the game was abandoned
to surrender (oneself) to emotion without restraint
to give (insured property that has suffered partial loss or damage) to the insurers in order that a claim for a total loss may be made
noun
freedom from inhibitions, restraint, concern, or worry: she danced with abandon
v.

late 14c., “to give up, surrender (oneself or something), give over utterly; to yield (oneself) utterly (to religion, fornication, etc.),” from Old French abandoner (12c.), from adverbial phrase à bandon “at will, at discretion,” from à “at, to” (see ad-) + bandon “power, jurisdiction,” from Latin bannum, “proclamation,” from a Frankish word related to ban (v.).

Mettre sa forest à bandon was a feudal law phrase in the 13th cent. = mettre sa forêt à permission, i.e. to open it freely to any one for pasture or to cut wood in; hence the later sense of giving up one’s rights for a time, letting go, leaving, abandoning. [Auguste Brachet, “An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language,” transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878]

Etymologically, the word carries a sense of “put someone under someone else’s control.” Meaning “to give up absolutely” is from late 14c. Related: Abandoned; abandoning.

n.

“a letting loose, surrender to natural impulses,” 1822, from a sense in French abandon (see abandon (v.). Borrowed earlier (c.1400) from French in a sense “(someone’s) control;” and cf. Middle English adverbial phrase at abandon, i.e. “recklessly,” attested from late 14c.