# absolve
## English
### Etymology

First attested in the early 15th century. From Middle English absolven, from Latin absolvere (“set free, acquit”), from ab (“away from”) + solvō (“loosen, free, release”). Doublet of assoil.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /əbˈzɒlv/
* (US) IPA: /æbˈzɑlv/, /-ˈsɑlv/, /əbˈ-/, /-ˈsɔlv/, /-ˈzɔlv/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒlv

### Verb

absolve (third-person singular simple present absolves, present participle absolving, simple past and past participle absolved)
* (transitive) To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.). [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
    You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.
** 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
** 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 410:The Committee divided, and Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.
* (transitive, obsolete) To resolve; to explain; to solve. [Attested from the late 15th century until the mid 17th century.]
** 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332,
    […] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]
** 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the blackneſſe of Negroes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 276:we ſhall not abſolve the doubt.
* (transitive) To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt. [First attested in the mid 16th century.]
* (transitive, law) To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for. [First attested in the mid 16th century.]
** 1725, Homer, “Book XI”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 121, line 702:Abſolves the juſt, and dooms the guilty ſouls.
* (transitive, theology) To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to. [First attested in the mid 16th century.]
** 1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 5:To make confession and to be absolved.
* (transitive, theology) To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin. [First attested in the late 16th century.]
** 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 447:In his name I abſolve your perjury and ſanctify your arms: follow my footſteps in the paths of glory and ſalvation; and if ſtill ye have ſcruples, devolve on my head the puniſhment and the ſin.
* (transitive, obsolete) To finish; to accomplish. [Attested from the late 16th century until the early 19th century.]
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 93–94:and the work begun, how ſoon / Abſolv'd,
* (transitive) To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to qualify academically.

#### Usage notes

* (to set free, release from obligations): Normally followed by the word from.
* (to pronounce free from; give absolution for blame): Normally followed by the word from.

#### Synonyms

* (set free): excuse, exempt, free, release
* (pronounce free or give absolution): acquit, exculpate, exonerate, pardon, remit, vindicate
* (theology: to pronounce free or give absolution from sin): remit

#### Derived terms

* absolvable
* absolvement
* absolver
* reabsolve
* unabsolve

#### Related terms

* absolutionary
* absolutive
* absolutory
* absolvatory

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “absolve”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.

## Galician
### Verb

absolve
* inflection of absolver:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Latin
### Verb

absolve
* second-person singular present active imperative of absolvō

## Portuguese
### Verb

absolve
* inflection of absolver:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative