To deal administratively with (a law or rule, ecclesiastical or civil) so as to relax or remit its penalty or obligation in a special case; to…

‘To remit; not to exact’ (Johnson); to grant excuse for the want or absence of; to dispense with.

To refrain from applying or enforcing (a rule, law), to make an exception to.

to bend (also stretch) the rules: to interpret the rules leniently; to overlook or allow an infringement of the rules.