From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Derelict \Der"e*lict\, a. [L. derelictus, p. p. of derelinquere
to forsake wholly, to abandon; de- + relinquere to leave. See
{Relinquish}.]
1. Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian;
left and abandoned; as, derelict lands.
[1913 Webster]
The affections which these exposed or derelict
children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of
nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. --Jer.
Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
2. Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful;
unfaithful.
[1913 Webster]
They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the
vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his
[Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the
vessel wholly out of the course of his policy.
--Burke.
[1913 Webster]
A government which is either unable or unwilling to
redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest
duties. --J. Buchanan.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Derelict \Der"e*lict\, n. (Law)
(a) A thing voluntary abandoned or willfully cast away by
its proper owner, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
(b) A tract of land left dry by the sea, and fit for
cultivation or use.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
derelict
adj 1: worn and broken down by hard use; "a creaky shack"; "a
decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction
tape"; "a flea-bitten sofa"; "a run-down neighborhood";
"a woebegone old shack" [syn: {creaky}, {decrepit},
{derelict}, {flea-bitten}, {run-down}, {woebegone}]
2: forsaken by owner or inhabitants ; "weed-grown yard of an
abandoned farmhouse" [syn: {abandoned}, {derelict},
{deserted}]
3: failing in what duty requires; "derelict (or delinquent) in
his duty"; "neglectful of his duties"; "remiss of you not to
pay your bills" [syn: {derelict}, {delinquent}, {neglectful},
{remiss}]
4: in deplorable condition; "a street of bedraggled tenements";
"a broken-down fence"; "a ramshackle old pier"; "a tumble-
down shack" [syn: {bedraggled}, {broken-down}, {derelict},
{dilapidated}, {ramshackle}, {tatterdemalion}, {tumble-down}]
n 1: a person without a home, job, or property
2: a ship abandoned on the high seas [syn: {abandoned ship},
{derelict}]
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