derelict
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɛr.ə.lɪkt/
ipa: /ˈdɛɹəˌlɪk(t)/
Forms: form: derelicts
Etymology: PIE word
 *de
The adjective and verb are a learned borrowing from Latin dērelictus (“(completely) abandoned, deserted, forsaken; discarded”), the perfect passive participle of dērelinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake; to discard”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; completely, thoroughly’) + relinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake, leave (behind); to depart (from); to give up, relinquish”) (from Proto-Italic *wrelinkʷō, from *wre (“again”) (whence Latin rē- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + *linkʷō (“to leave”) (whence linquō (“to forsake; depart from, leave, quit”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”))). Doublet of relict, relic, and relinquish.
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: But often it must have happened in a course of centuries, that plague, small-pox, cholera, the sweating-sickness, or other scourges of universal Europe and Asia, would absolutely depopulate a region no larger than an island; […] In such cases, mere strangers would oftentimes enter upon the lands as a derelict.
ref: 1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Modern Greece”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 320:
glosses: Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
examples: text: Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum: / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."
ref: 1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in Songs of a Sourdough, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 38:
topics: law
glosses: Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.
Property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; (countable) an item of such property, especially a ship.
coordinate_terms: flotsam
jetsam
lagan
salvage
examples: text: And, think you, will the unkind ones hesitate / To try conclusions with my helplessness,— / To pounce on, misuse me, your derelict, / Helped by advantage that bereavement lends / Folks, who, while yet you lived, played tricks like these?
ref: 1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part IV”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 257–258:
text: A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange chance, the last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet.
ref: 1911 December, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax”, in His Last Bow: A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published October 1917, →OCLC, page 208:
hyponyms: foundling
glosses: An abandoned or forsaken person; an outcast, a waif.
examples: text: A very gratifying development of the work in this office has been the gradual improvement in the class and type of applicants. […] This improvement is due, in part to the arrangement with the Federal Employment office whereby the latter handles the common labor, in which group there is always a large percentage of transients, derelicts and loafers, hoboes and ne'er-do-wells.
ref: 1918, V. A. Zimmer, “Part VII: Report of Bureau of Employment [Report of the Superintendent of the Buffalo Office]”, in Annual Report of the Industrial Commission for the Twelve Months Ended June 30, 1917 […], Albany, N.Y.: State Department of Labor, →OCLC, page 249:
text: Only she must have men—understand? If they're lazy derelicts and ne'er-do-wells she'll eat 'em up. But she's waiting for real men—British to the bone— […]
ref: 1924, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, M[ary] L[ouise] Skinner, “Jack Arrives in Australia”, in The Boy in the Bush, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, section III, page 18:
text: As they hunt, the Archers and Duval find many derelicts and ne'er-do-wells in many parts of Paris.
ref: 1988, Jonathan D[ermot] Spence, “Paris”, in The Question of Hu (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 87:
text: [P]ublic charity has been permeated with judgments about the moral character of the poor. […] We see the distinction at work when victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks are treated more generously than derelicts and drug addicts.
ref: 2004, Katherine V[an] W[ezel] Stone, “The Working Rich and the Working Poor: Income Inequality in the Digital Era”, in From Widgets to Digits: Employment Regulation for the Changing Workplace, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 280:
synonyms: word: bum
word: casual
word: clochard
raw_tags: in France
word: derelict
word: dero
word: down-and-out
word: down-and-outer
word: drifter
word: epithite
word: floater
word: gadling
word: hobo
word: Jack out of doors
word: knight of the road
word: landleaper
word: landloper
word: landlouper
word: nomad
word: paker
word: palliard
word: pike
word: piker
word: ranger
word: rogue
word: rolling stone
word: rough sleeper
word: scatterling
word: skelder
word: skell
word: stroller
word: stumblebum
word: swagman
word: swaggie
word: toerag
word: tramp
word: truant
word: vagabond
word: vagrant
word: wanderer
word: waif
word: yagger
glosses: A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant; also, a person who is (perceived as) negligent in their hygiene and personal affairs.
synonyms: shirker#Noun
glosses: A person who is negligent in performing a duty.