consign
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kənˈsaɪn/
rhymes: -aɪn
Forms: form: consigns
form: consigning
form: consigned
form: consigned
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French consigner or directly from Latin cōnsignō (“furnish with a seal”), from con- + signō (“mark, sign”).
Senses: topics: business
glosses: To transfer to the custody of, usually for sale, transport, or safekeeping.
examples: text: For virtue’s image yet poſſeſt her mind, / Taught by a maſter of the tuneful kind : / Atrides, parting for the Trojan war, / Conſign’d the youthful conſort to his care.
ref: 1726, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, William Broome, and Elijah Fenton, Odyssey, new edition, volume I, London: T. Longman et al., translation of original in Ancient Greek, published 1796, book III, pages 147–8, lines 332–5:
glosses: To entrust to the care of another.
examples: text: to consign the body to the grave
text: And this remarkable Property of Love will ſuggeſt to us one Reaſon, why Acts of Charity ſhall be enquir’d after ſo particularly, at the Day of general Account ; becauſe Good Men are then to be conſign’d over to another State, a State of everlaſting Love and Charity[…]
ref: 1707 April 7, Francis Atterbury, “A Spittal-Sermon Preach’d at St. Bridget’s Church, before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor, &c.”, in Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 5th edition, volume II, London: T. Woodward and C. Davis, published 1740, page 151:
text: This firm regularly consigns margarine in palletised wagon-loads to a wide variety of destinations.
ref: 1961 September, B. Perren, “The Tilbury Line serves industrial North Thameside”, in Modern Railways, page 359:
text: If there's such a thing as pariah food – a recipe shunned by mainstream menus, mocked to near extinction and consigned to niche hinterlands for evermore – then the nut roast, a dish whose very name has become a watchword for sawdusty disappointment, is surely a strong contender.
ref: 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:
text: This controversial decision has consigned rail passengers to a considerable time penalty, when the direct route would have cut 45 minutes from Far North journey times.
ref: 2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 49:
glosses: To send to a final destination.
examples: text: The French commander, charmed with the greatneſs of your ſoul, accordingly conſign’d it [a donation] to the uſe for which it was intended by the donor[…]
ref: a. 1700, John Dryden, “Dedication”, in The British Poets, volume XI, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and W. Creech, and J. Balfour, published 1773, page 13:
glosses: To assign; to devote; to set apart.
examples: text: Ennoble my ſoul with great degrees of love to thee, and conſign my ſpirit with great fear, religion and veneration of thy holy name and laws[…]
ref: 1650, Jeremy Taylor, “Devotions for ordinary days”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 19th edition, London: J. Hepinstall, published 1703, page 44:
glosses: To stamp or impress; to affect.
Derived terms: consignable
consignation
consignee
consigner
consignment
consignor
preconsign
reconsign
unconsigned