# relent
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English relenten, from Anglo-Norman relentir, from Latin re- + lentare (“to bend”), from lentus (“soft, pliant, slow”). Earliest recording dates to 1526.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɹɪˈlɛnt/
* Rhymes: -ɛnt
* Audio (UK):(file)

### Noun

relent (plural relents)
* Stay; stop; delay.
** 2015, Mel Parsons (lyrics and music), “First Sign of Trouble”:There was no relent, my dear, as we pulled each other in.
** 2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 193:The pistons of this engine moved without relent.
** 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:She forward went […] Ne rested till she came without relent Unto the land of Amazons.
* (obsolete) A relenting.

#### Derived terms

* relentless

#### Translations
### Verb

relent (third-person singular simple present relents, present participle relenting, simple past and past participle relented)
* (intransitive) To give in or be swayed; to become less hard, harsh, or cruel; to show clemency.
    He had planned to ground his son for a month, but relented and decided to give him a stern lecture instead.
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold My sighs and tears and will not once relent?
** 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:Only the valley where Sish rested when he and Time were young did Sish not provoke his hours to assail. There he restrained his old hound Time […] For the minds of the gods relent towards their earliest memories, who relent not otherwise at all.
** 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day:I did, I suppose, hope that she might finally relent a little and make some conciliatory response or other.
* (intransitive) To slacken; to abate.
    We waited for the storm to relent before we ventured outside.
    He will not relent in his effort to reclaim his victory.
* (obsolete, transitive) To lessen, make less severe or intense.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:But nothing might relent her hastie flight; / So deepe the deadly feare of that foule swaine / Was earst impressed in her gentle spright […]
* (dated, intransitive, of substance) To become less rigid or hard; to soften; to yield, for example by dissolving or melting
** 1669, Robert Boyle, The History of Fluidity and Firmness:[Salt of tartar] placed in a cellar will […] begin to relent.
** 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:When opening buds salute the welcome day, / And earth, relenting, feels the genial ray.

#### Translations
### Adjective

relent (comparative more relent, superlative most relent)
* (obsolete) softhearted; yielding

### References

* ↑ merriam-webster.com

## French
### Etymology

From re- +‎ lent (“slow”), in the sense “lingering”.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʁə.lɑ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

relent m (plural relents)
* lingering smell (usually bad); stench
* (figuratively) overtone

### Further reading

* “relent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle English
### Verb

relent
* Alternative form of relenten