surrender Hear it!

surrender Definition

sur·ren·der (sə ren′dər)

transitive verb

  1. to give up possession of or power over; yield to another on demand or compulsion
  2. to give up claim to; give over or yield, esp. voluntarily, as in favor of another
  3. to give up or abandon surrendering all hope
  4. to yield or resign (oneself) to an emotion, influence, etc.

Etymology: ME surrendren < MFr surrendre < sur-, up (see sur-) + rendre, to render

intransitive verb

  1. to give oneself up to another's power or control, esp. as a prisoner
  2. to give in (to) to surrender to temptation

noun

  1. the act of surrendering, yielding, or giving up, over, or in
  2. Insurance the voluntary abandonment of a policy by an insured person in return for a cash payment (surrender value), thus freeing the company of liability

Etymology: LME < MFr surrendre, inf. used as n.

surrender Synonyms

surrender

n.

capitulation, yielding, giving up, submission, giving way, unconditional surrender, white flag, cessation, abandonment, relinquishment, acquiescence, abdication, resignation, delivery.

surrender Synonyms

surrender

v.

  1. To accept defeat

    capitulate, quit, give in; see yield 1.

  2. To relinquish possession

    give up, let go, resign, abdicate; see abandon 1.

surrender Law Definition

n

Delivery into the possession of another, such as vacating of property by the tenant before the lease has terminated so that the landlord may consider termination to have occurred; the giving up of a claim or a right; yielding to the control or power of another; the return of an estate to the one who has a reversion so as to merge the estate into a larger one.
surrender Usage Examples

Object

  • sovereignty: There will, of course, be inevitable clashes between global standards and local diversity, between autonomy and surrendering sovereignty.
  • lease: However, we do not have to let you surrender the lease.
  • abbey: Abbot Richard Contour surrendered the abbey in July 1539.
  • tenancy: She should supply you with a written and dated letter stating that she hereby agrees to surrender the tenancy forthwith.
  • possession: Bircham was surrendering possession like nobodies business; this was a match that was crying out for the passing ability of Langley.

Converse of object

  • negotiate: As the only officer in town, he had little choice but to negotiate the surrender of the garrison of heavily armed SS troops.

Preposition: at

  • discretion: The people of the town, seized with terror, offered to surrender at discretion.

Adjective modifier

  • unconditional: Once the line is crossed, it becomes a de facto fight to the finish with no alternative except unconditional surrender.
  • abject: Only slightly better than abject surrender the home side were dismissed for 125 in the 53rd over.
  • craven: First, a craven surrender to the public sector unions on the retirement age.
  • Japanese: In August 1945, she anchored in Tokyo Bay and was present during the signing of the Japanese surrender.
  • eventual: If anything, the family as haven grates a little in its eventual surrender to the apparently inevitable.
  • partial: Points of interest 1. Partial surrender of registration; effective date.

Modifies a noun

  • monkey: Cheese eating surrender monkeys, good. [ And there's no point kidding the French... they had an Empire once.. .

Modifying Another Word

  • unconditionally: You either force your government to surrender unconditionally to every demand we make, or we'll slaughter these children.
  • voluntarily: Visitors will be asked to voluntarily surrender any drugs detected by the dogs.

Preposition: of

  • sovereignty: They will ask for the keys, for the surrender of sovereignty.
  • veto: The Labor Government is quite wrong to associate support for the continuing surrender of the British veto in EU policy matters with patriotism.
  • lease: Lambert Smith Hampton ( LSH ) successfully secured the surrender of a long lease on behalf of Novell.
  • tenancy: A notice to determine a periodic tenancy is not in my view equivalent to the assignment or surrender of that tenancy.
surrender Quotes

The awful daring of a moment's surrender Which an age of prudence can never retract. 306

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

La Garde meurt, mais ne se rend pas. The Guards die but do not surrender.

—Cambronne, Pierre, Baron de

We shall not flag or fail.We shall go on to the end.We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be.We shall fight on the beaches, weshall fight onthelanding grounds, weshall fight inthe fields and in thestreets, we shall fight inthehills.We shall never surrender.

—Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

—Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)

I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec.

—Montcalm, Marquis de

Atfifteenlifehadtaught meundeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

—Angelou, Maya originally MayaJohnson

No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.

—Grant, Ulysses S(impson)

In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair