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Assoil
Definitions
- 1 To absolve or release (someone) from blame or sin; to forgive, to pardon. archaic, transitive
"But ſecretly aſſoyling of his ſin, / No other med'cine vvill he to him lay, / Saying that Heauen his ſiluer him ſhould vvin, / And to giue Friers, vvas better then to pray, / So he vvere ſhrieu'd, vvhat need he care a pin?"
- 2 To make (something) dirty or soiled; to soil; to stain; to sully. archaic, obsolete, transitive
"Is it that the world has assoiled my soul? Yet I have not tasted of worldly joys; all that I have known of it has been suffering and tears."
- 3 pronounce not guilty of criminal charges wordnet
- 4 To atone or expiate for (something). archaic, transitive
"But Glauce, ſeeing all that chaunced there, / VVell vveeting hovv their errour to aſſoyle, / Full glad of ſo good end, to them drevv nere, / And her ſalevved vvith ſeemly belaccoyle, / Ioyous to ſee her ſafe after long toyle."
- 5 Followed by from or of: to acquit (someone) from a criminal charge; to find (someone) not guilty; to clear. archaic, transitive
"For if the mater appere vpon his ſyde therby, either clere or doubtefull, than may the iudges acquite and aſſoyle the defendaũt [defendaunt]. And better were it the faute to be quytte, than the fautles to be punyſhed."
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- 6 Followed by from or of: to release or set free (someone) from a liability, an obligation, etc.; to discharge. archaic, obsolete, transitive
"But firſt thou muſt a ſeaſon faſt and pray, / Till from her bands the ſpright aſſoiled is, / And haue her ſtrength recur'd from fraile infirmitis."
- 7 To clear up or resolve (a difficulty, doubt, problem, etc.); to absolve, to solve. obsolete, transitive
"I ſaie, aſſoyleth this doubt and queſtion, by the only argument and aſſuraunce of the knovven Catholik church of Chriſt."
- 8 To refute (an argument, an objection, etc.). obsolete, transitive
- 9 To discharge (a liability, an obligation, etc.). obsolete, rare, transitive
"And ye poore Pilgrimes, that vvith reſtleſſe toyle / VVearie your ſelues in vvandring deſert vvayes, / Till that you come, vvhere ye your vovves aſſoyle, / VVhen paſsing by ye read theſe vvofull layes / On my graue vvritten, […]"
- 10 To get rid of, put off, or remove (something). obsolete, rare, transitive
"She ſoundly ſlept, & carefull thoughts did quite aſſoile."
- 11 To absolve or release (someone) from excommunication or some other religious offence. obsolete, transitive
"[H]is Barons […] flatly oppoſe themſelues both to his commaund and their Countries good, denying him (vntill he vvere aſſoyled of his excommunication,) their attendance in ſo behouefull a ſeruice."
Etymology
From Middle English assoilen (“to absolve or release from blame or sin”), from Anglo-Norman as(s)oiler, as(s)oilier, and Old French as(s)oille [and other forms], the present subjunctive, and as(s)oil, the present indicative, of as(s)oldre, as(s)oudre (“to absolve from blame”) (modern French absoudre), from Latin absoluere, the present active infinitive of absoluō, a variant of absolvō (“to set free from”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + solvō (“to loosen, set free”) (from sē- (“prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’”) + luō (“to let go, set free”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to cut off, to free”). Doublet of absolve and assoilzie.
Possibly from a- (intensifying prefix) or ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, toward’, or indicating an addition or tendency) + soil (“to make dirty”), perhaps influenced by assoil (etymology 1).
See also for "assoil"
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