AB'DICATE, v.t. [L. abdica; ab and dico, to dedicate, to bestow, but the literal primary sense of dico is to send or thrust.]
1. In a general sense, to relinquish, renounce, or abandon.
2. To abandon an office or trust, without a formal resignation to those who conferred it, or without their consent; also to abandon a throne, without a formal surrender of the crown.
3. To relinquish an office before the expiration of the time of service.
4. To reject; to renounce; to abandon as a right.
5. To cast away; to renounce; as to abdicate our mental faculties [Unusual.]
6. In the civil law, to disclaim a son and expel him from the family, as a father; to disinherit during the life of the father.
AB'DICATE, v.i. To renounce; to abandon; to cast off; to relinquish, as a right, power, or trust.
Though a King may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
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Webster's name has become synonymous with "dictionary" in the United States, especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the nation.