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The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable, as for a trust, debt, or obligation.

Want of, or freedom from, responsibility or accountability.

To set free, or release, as from some obligation, debt, or responsibility, or from the consequences of guilt or such ties as it would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment. Halifa…

To discharge, as a claim or debt; to clear off; to pay off; to requite. A responsibility that can never be absolutely acquitted. I. Taylor.

nected or joined with some other, as in interest, purpose, employment, or office; sharing responsibility or authority; as, an associate judge. While I descend . . . to my associate powers. Milton.

To sustain, or be answerable for, as blame, expense, responsibility, etc. He shall bear their iniquities. Is. liii. 11. Somewhat that will bear your charges. Dryden.

adiction to a system in which the officers of government have an associated authority and responsibility; also, government conducted on this system.

A burdensome sense of responsibility; trouble caused by onerous duties; anxiety; concern; solicitude. Care keeps his wath in every old man's eye, And where care lodges, sleep will never lie. Shak.

To accuse; to make a charge or assertion against (a) person or thing); to lay the responsibility (for something said or done) at the door of. If the did that wrong you charge with. Tennyson.

To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, and the like; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow. The falsehood of denying his opinion. Bancroft. Thou thrice denied, yet thrice beloved. Keble. To deny one's self, to decline the gratification of appetites or desires; to practice self-denial. Let…

d usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility. Deviation of a falling body (Physics), that deviation from a strictly vertical line of descent which occurs in a body falling freely, in consequence of the rotation of the earth. -- Deviation of the compass, the a…

To refuse strongly and solemnly to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, an the like; to disclaim; to disown; as, he was charged with embezzlement, but he disavows the crime. A solemn promise made and disavowed. Dryden.

To of something weighing upon or impeding over one, as a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to clear. Discharged of business, void of strife. Dryden. In one man's fault discharge another man of his duty. L'Estrange.

To renounce all claim to deny; ownership of, or responsibility for; to disown; to disavow; to reject. He calls the gods to witness their offense; Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence. Dryden. He disclaims the authority of Jesus. Farmer.

Fig.: To evade by craft; as, to dodge a question; to dodge responsibility. [Colloq.] S. G. Goodrich.

stress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth; as, easy manners; an easy style. "The easy vigor of a line." Pope.…

s, he took him in hand. -- To wash the hands of, to disclaim or renounce interest in, or responsibility for, a person or action; as, to wash one's hands of a business. Matt. xxvii. 24. -- Under the hand of, authenticated by the handwriting or signature of; as, the deed is executed under the hand and seal of the owner…

To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations. I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of God on the left hand and hiding mine honor in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch. Shak.

ips are not gone out of the river." Pepys. -- On one's own hook, on one's own account or responsibility; by one's self. [Colloq. U.S.] Bartlett. -- To go off the hooks, to die. [Colloq.] Thackeray. -- Bid hook, a small boat hook. -- Chain hook. See under Chain. -- Deck hook, a horizontal knee or frame, in the bow…

That which is morally incumbent, or is imposed, as a rule, a duty, obligation, or responsibility. "The incumbencies of a family." Donne.