a person to whom something is formally relinquished, esp an insurer having the right to salvage a wreck
abandonee in American English
(əˌbændəˈni)
noun
1.
the party to whom a right or property is abandoned by another, esp. an insurer to whom a property has been relinquished
2.
a person who has been abandoned
Word origin
[1840–50; abandon1 + -ee]This word is first recorded in the period 1840–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: bypass, colloid, creationism, plaque, sensationalism-ee is a suffix forming from transitive verbs nouns which denote a person who is theobject or beneficiary of the act specified by the verb (addressee; employee; grantee); more recent formations also mark the performer of an act, with the base being anintransitive verb (escapee; returnee; standee) or, less frequently, a transitive verb (attendee) or another part of speech (absentee; refugee)