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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Abdicate \Ab"di*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Abdicated}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Abdicating}.] [L. abdicatus, p. p. of abdicare; ab
dicare to proclaim, akin to dicere to say. See {Diction}.]
1. To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to
withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high
office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the
crown, the papacy.
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Note: The word abdicate was held to mean, in the case of
James II., to abandon without a formal surrender.
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The cross-bearers abdicated their service.
--Gibbon.
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2. To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust,
duty, right, etc.
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He abdicates all right to be his own governor.
--Burke.
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The understanding abdicates its functions. --Froude.
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3. To reject; to cast off. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall.
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4. (Civil Law) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a
father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
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Syn: To give up; quit; vacate; relinquish; forsake; abandon;
resign; renounce; desert.

Usage: To {Abdicate}, {Resign}. Abdicate commonly expresses
the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally
yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the
government. Resign is applied to the act of any
person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust
into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a
minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk
resigns. The expression, "The king resigned his
crown," sometimes occurs in our later literature,
implying that he held it from his people. -- There are
other senses of resign which are not here brought into
view.
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