abjurationn.
/ˌabdʒᵿˈreɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌæbdʒəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/ 1. Law. An oath before a justice or coroner undertaking to leave the country for ever, made by a criminal in order to escape punishment, after taking sanctuary in a church, etc. Esp. in abjuration of the realm. Also in extended use (of a town, marriage, etc.). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > agreement > promise > [noun] > vow or oath > of particular type
abjuration?a1439
professing1560
vow of silence1567
oath of allegiance1574
vow1600
affidation1612
abjuration1621
fetish1705
affidature1727
pledge of allegiance1750
abjuration of the realm1768
oath-parole1900
Guide's honour1912
a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xxxii. 93 Is for te enqueren of eche toune..of auentures ant abiurgacions in þe manere, of murdre ant felonies imade.
c1523 J. Rastell Expos. Terminorum Legum Anglorum sig. A.3 Abiuracyon is where one that hath commyttyd murder or felony fleith to ony church..and ther be fore the coroner makyth suche confession..then the coroner shall make hym to forswere the realme.
1592–3 Act 35 Eliz. cap. 1 Euery such offender..shall departe out of this Realme at such Hauen or Port..as shall be assigned and appointed by the sayd Justices before whom such abiuration shall be made.
a1642 R. Callis Reading of Statute of Sewers (1647) iv. 188 Butchers are to be abjured the Town, if they offend the fourth time in selling measled flesh; and this is a special Abjuration.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 15 In the 8th of Edward II. an Abjuration is a Divorce between Husband and Wife.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. 370 Some punishments consist in exile or banishment, by abjuration of the realm, or transportation to the American colonies.
1852 Putnam's Home Cycl. 134/2 In law, there is a natural death and a civil death; natural, where actual death takes place; civil, where a person is not actually dead, but adjudged so by law; as by banishment, abjuration of the realm, &c.
1887 Amer. Law Reg. 35 748 Where the husband who deserted his wife and went abroad was a subject, it was held that there must be an abjuration of the realm to entitle her to sue alone.
1905 E. Channing Hist. U.S. I. x. 283 Abjuration of the realm in the cases of these persons entailed the forfeiture of goods and chattels forever and of lands during life.
1960 Eng. Hist. Rev. 75 213 Proclamations not concerned with religion could never impose penalties to which abjuration of the realm was preferable.
2006 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 16 Aug. By the early 1200s, English criminals could hide out for 40 days at a church and then accept ‘abjuration of the realm’, or permanent exile.
2.
a. Renunciation on oath; forswearing, esp. of heretical opinions; (also) an instance of this. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > agreement > promise > [noun] > vow or oath > of particular type
abjuration?a1439
professing1560
vow of silence1567
oath of allegiance1574
vow1600
affidation1612
abjuration1621
fetish1705
affidature1727
pledge of allegiance1750
abjuration of the realm1768
oath-parole1900
Guide's honour1912
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. 4565 (MED) Off fals ydoles mak abiuracioun.
a1449 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) ii. 83 (MED) The coroners..come to take the knowleche of the said John Berton ys felonyes..as well as of abjuracions.
1499 Abiuracio J. Whitehorne in R. W. Seton-Watson Tudor Stud. (1924) 49 I..Require all cristin menn here present to Recorde and Witnes ayenst me and this my present confessioun and Abiuracioun yf I..offence or do contrarye to the same.
1532 T. More Confut. Barnes in Wks. (1557) 789/2 Now frere Barns in one of the articles which was layed agaynste hym at his abiurasion.
1581 N. Woodes Conflict of Conscience v. ii. sig. Hiij That they [sc. God's elect] may see, the price of abiuration.
c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 15 Objuratioun of the fauouraris of Mertene Lutar, in the abbay of Haly rudhous.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 75 The abjuration of certaine Familists at Pauls Crosse.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ix. 175 Iohn Hilton Priest, made a solemn Abjuration of his blasphemous heresies.
1702 J. Savage Antient & Present State Germany 205 The Elector has obtain'd..much Reputation and Glory by the Abjuration (as the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome are pleas'd to Phrase it).
1767 A. Bedingfield Short Acct. Life Mary of Holy Cross 25 She spent two Months in the Convent of the English Carmelite Nuns, there made her Abjuration..and received Confirmation from the Hands of the Pope's Nuncio.
1840 W. Irving Chron. Wolfert's Roost (1855) 175 To avoid the sneers and jests of the Parisian public, the ceremony of abjuration took place at Melun.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. II. 21 Prisoners who refused to abjure their errors, who persisted in heresy, or relapsed into it after abjuration, were sentenced to be burnt at the stake.
1902 Jewish Q. Rev. 14 671 If he should refuse to abjure or after abjuration should relapse..then he is to be handed over to the sheriff.
2001 Renaissance Q. 54 82 Bainham was burnt alive because he insisted on standing in the midst of a congregation at the Church of St. Austens, London, to withdraw his abjuration and testify to his beliefs.
b. gen. Solemn or formal renunciation or giving up of anything; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > [noun] > renunciation
renunciation1399
renouncingc1400
disaccustoming1479
renouncementa1513
abjuration?1567
abjuring1567
abdication1571
renounsal1574
abjurement?1594
renounce1774
?1567 Def. Priestes Mariages (new ed.) 93 The priest if he Marrie, he surely breaketh his vowe, and is in great daunger: but if he committe but adulterie or fornication, he breaketh no vowe, for he vowed but the abiuration of Mariage.
1669 Survey of Napthali ii. 113 An abjuration of part of the Churches Christian liberty.
1779 H. Cowley Who's the Dupe? ii. 18 The Mathematics..I consign, in a lump, to Old Men who want Blood, and to Young ones who want Bread—and now you've heard my whole abjuration.
1825 W. Tennant John Baliol iv. ii. 111 'Tis the King's desire, That you do carry to the English throne This abjuration of the English service.
1842 H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 71 To demand an abjuration of all friendship with those who in any measure favoured it.
1927 A. R. Williams Russ. Land ii. 52 Vlas bases his abjuration of smoking on purely physiological grounds. It will cut down his weight.
2007 Canberra Times (Nexis) 15 Sept. a16 Deranged televangelism, with its Baptist intonations, the autistic swaying of its hand-clapping herds, its grinning and impassioned abjuration of thought, thrives among us.
c. Official repudiation on oath of a religious, political, or other principle; rejection or disavowal of a claim or claimant. Also: an instance of this.In many instances difficult to distinguish from sense 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > agreement > promise > [noun] > vow or oath > of particular type
abjuration?a1439
professing1560
vow of silence1567
oath of allegiance1574
vow1600
affidation1612
abjuration1621
fetish1705
affidature1727
pledge of allegiance1750
abjuration of the realm1768
oath-parole1900
Guide's honour1912
1621 T. Bedford Sinne unto Death 72 As the præcipitation is performed by the abjuration of the fundamentall points of the Truth, So this other may beginne with other smaller matters.
1650 J. Row & J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1842) 540 Supposing that Episcopacie were indifferent in itselfe to be used or refused yet I am sworne against it, and my abjuration of it will be called a sin or a dutie.
1708 J. Swift Sentiments Church of Eng.-man ii, in Misc. (1711) 124 Do not the generality of Whigs and Tories among us, profess to agree in the same Fundamentals, their Loyalty to the Queen, their Abjuration of the Pretender, [etc.]?
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 15 An abjuration of some Doctrines of the Church of Rome.
1777 H. Hunter Duty & Usefulness Commemorating Nat. Deliverances 11 The Officer who guarded the Execution, having again required her to sign an Abjuration of her former Principles, and she again refusing, he ordered her instantly to be plunged into the Water, where she was choaked.
1844 Littell's Living Age 21 Sept. 390/1 The circumstances which entitle Galileo to be regarded as a martyr of science, are the persecutions he sustained..; his trial, condemnation, and imprisonment..; and his constrained abjuration, in his old age, of the Copernican doctrine.
1874 J. Lawrence Angel Voices from Spirit World 165 From such a condition, how can they escape, we ask, but by rendition of every claim to truthfulness and total abjuration of a doctrine baseless in its structure, and quite unsuited to the wants of man.
1910 Times 29 June 6/3 Even the Church of Rome herself has..in the course of her history enjoined the use of language equally strong upon her own children..and certainly upon converts to her faith, in abjuration and denunciation of Protestant doctrine.
2001 Hastings Centre Rep. 31 42/1 In spite of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress's abjuration in the fourth edition of The Principles of Bioethics, deductivism remains the ‘gold standard’ of ethical rationality.
Phrases
Oath of Abjuration n. a legally binding vow to abjure (in various senses); (English History) an oath disclaiming allegiance to James, son of James II, or his descendants as claimants to the English (later British) throne.Swearing of the oath by anyone taking civil, military, or ecclesiastical office was made compulsory by the Act of Succession of 1701; it was reimposed by further Acts of Parliament throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and was finally abolished in 1858 and replaced by a version of the Oath of Allegiance.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > oath disclaiming right of pretender
Oath of Abjuration1612
abjuration oath1681
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xvii. 270 The Oth of Abiuration published among our Manuall Statutes neerly agrees with this of Duke Robert.
1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan ii. xviii. 152 Hee had tane the oath of abjuration, which is a speciall stepp, yea and a maine degree unto perferment.
1682 A. Behn City-heiress v. i. 51 A whole Bag of Knavery, damn'd Sedition, Libels, Treason..with a new-fashion'd Oath of Abjuration, call'd the Association.
1696 W. Stephens Acct. Growth of Deism in Eng. 16 Whether an Oath of Abjuration laid upon the Jacobites Proxy-men, will put an end to this Corruption.
1704 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion III. xvi. 558 That no Person whatsoever might be admitted to the exercise of any Office or Function in the State, or in the Church,..who did not first take the Oath of Abjuration of the King, and of all his Family.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 15 There is likewise another Oath of Abjuration, which Laymen and Clergymen are both oblig'd to take; and that is to abjure the Pretender.
1834 T. F. Gordon Hist. New Jersey 196 Two justices of the peace were empowered to convene by summons or warrant, any person, whom they should suspect to be dangerous or disaffected to the government; and compel him to take the oath of abjuration.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. viii. 128 Three oaths were required to be taken by members of Parliament. These oaths were—the oath of allegiance, of supremacy, and abjuration.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 65/1 The Oath of Abjuration..was a solemn disclaimer, taken by members of parliament, clergy, and laymen against the right of the Stuarts to the crown, imposed by laws of William III., George I. and George III.
1959 A. Briggs Age of Improvem. 493 Derby had just referred to the necessity of ‘muzzling’ Roman Catholics by the oath of abjuration.
2004 Irish News (Nexis) 6 Feb. 134 The Magherafelt magistrates' records for October 1712 show that the then parish priest of Ballinascreen..had failed to answer his summons to appear before them and take the Oath of Abjuration.
Compounds
abjuration oath n. = Oath of Abjuration n. at Phrases.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > [noun] > oath disclaiming right of pretender
Oath of Abjuration1612
abjuration oath1681
1681 J. Phillips Char. Popish Successour Compl. 13 By those firm English Friends that may take this Abjuration-Oath against their Consciences, he cannot mean the Fanaticks.
1709 J. Swift Let. conc. Sacramental Test 27 Leading Teachers in the North, who have refused the Abjuration Oath, yet continue their Preaching.
1830 J. E. Blunt Hist. Establishm. & Resid. Jews in Eng. 112 The Declaration, but not the Abjuration Oath, is required from all persons who shall fill any office, or be employed in any Corporation.
1908 Daily Chron. 24 July 4/7 The words in the Abjuration Oath were as effective in excluding them [sc. Jews seeking to enter Parliament] as if there had been an express disqualification by statute.
2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 7 July 14 Two women Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLauchlan were drowned at the stake by Solway tide, rather than recant and swear an abjuration oath to the Kings religious supremacy, against their conscience.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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