derelictionn.
/dɛrɪˈlɪkʃən/ 1.
a. The action of leaving or forsaking (with intention not to resume); abandonment. (Now rare except in legal use.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > casting or laying aside > [noun] > forsaking
forsakingc1320
abandoninga1500
abandonment1611
derelictiona1631
a1631 J. Donne Βιαθανατος (1647) ii. vi. §5 The next species of Homicide..is Permission; which when it is toward our selves, is by the Schoole-men usually called Desertion, or Dereliction.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. viii. ⁋5 Repentance and dereliction of sins.
1782 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1836) xxxvi. 586 This wise dereliction of obsolete, vexatious, and unprofitable claims.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. iv. 442 He recommended, if not a dereliction, at any rate a suspension of the design.
1864 J. Bryce Holy Rom. Empire v. 78 Imposts..by long dereliction apparently obsolete.
b. The condition of being forsaken or abandoned. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > casting or laying aside > [noun] > forsaking > condition of being forsaken
dereliction1597
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > reversal of or forsaking one's will or purpose > [noun] > deserting a person or thing > condition of being deserted
dereliction1597
forsakenness1621
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xvii. 26 Dereliction in this world, and in the world to come confusion.
1675 T. Brooks Golden Key 131 That Jesus Christ did suffer dereliction, of God really; that he was indeed deserted & † forsaken of God.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. lxvii. 304 The unhappy Baronet has no friends..you are not reduced to so deplorable a state of dereliction.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon iii. 85 These mansions..whether their dereliction arises from the caprice or folly of their owners [etc.].
c. figurative. The ‘abandonment’ or leaving dry of land by the sea; concrete the land thus left dry.
ΚΠ
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 261 Lands newly created..by the alluvion or dereliction of the sea.
1795 H. T. Colebrooke Remarks Husbandry & Commerce Bengal i. 3 Land gained by the dereliction of water.
1866 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices I. iv. 106 Norfolk has gained largely on the eastern side by the dereliction of the sea.
2.
a. In modern use implying a morally wrong or reprehensible abandonment or neglect; chiefly in the phrase dereliction of duty.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > undutifulness > dereliction of duty > [noun]
defaulta1250
fail1297
declining1526
defection1532
declination1533
defect1540
delinquishment1593
declension1597
secession1601
delinquency1606
delinquence1613
deliquity1682
dereliction1778
derelictness1888
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [noun] > failure in duty
fail1297
defaultc1330
defaultinga1475
delinquishment1593
delinquency1606
delinquence1613
deliquity1682
dereliction1778
derelictness1888
1778 E. Burke Corr. (1844) II. 217 A dereliction of every opinion and principle that I have held.
1836 J. Gilbert Christian Atonem. iv. 123 He will not accept of compliments paid to his power at the expense of a dereliction of his royal claims.
1840 W. H. Ainsworth Tower of London viii They would be answerable with their lives for any further dereliction of duty.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets Mal. 608 Idolatry,..the central dereliction of God.
1892 Ld. Esher in Law Times Rep. 67 211/2 The plaintiffs have been guilty of a dereliction of duty, but for which the sewage matter would not flow into the stream.
b. Hence absol. Failure in duty, delinquency.
ΚΠ
1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. 11 In this case it was moral dereliction which gave to ridicule a weight and power not necessarily..belonging to it.
1841 R. W. Emerson Man Reformer in Lect. in Wks. (1906) II. 236 The employments of commerce..are..vitiated by derelictions and abuses at which all connive.
1881 S. H. Hodgson Outcast Ess. 396 What! on thy guiltless children wilt thou call Lightly the curse of such a dereliction?
1882 B. A. Hinsdale Garfield & Educ. i. 396 Each pupil felt..that he owed her a personal apology for any dereliction or failure on his part.
a. Failure, cessation; esp. sudden failure of the bodily or mental powers, fainting. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > unconsciousness > [noun] > fainting or swooning
swimeOE
swowingc1000
swooningc1290
swoonc1330
soundingc1380
swelteringc1440
sweltingc1460
swalming1487
swounding1570
syncopization1598
fainting1601
lipothymy1603
defection1615
dereliction1647
swebbing1668
swound1880
greyout1942
1647 H. More Philos. Poems iii. App. lxxix Of brasen sleep and bodi's derelictions.
1749 G. Lavington Enthusiasm Methodists & Papists: Pt. I 34 Derelictions, terrors, despairings.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. IV. xl. 112 The word eclipse..signifies dereliction, a fainting away, or swooning.
1797 E. M. Lomax Philanthrope 169 All at once, by some unfortunate dereliction of mind, he made a full stop.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > [noun] > failure or shortcoming
delinquency1606
shortcominga1687
limitation1732
dereliction1801
undershoot1934
1801 H. Fuseli Lect. Painting I. ii. 63 [Michelangelo] no doubt had his moments of dereliction.
a1807 J. Opie Lect. on Painting (1809) 46 Michael Angelo had derelictions and deficiencies too great to be overlooked.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1597