THE FIRST WORD

abjure

PRONUNCIATION:

(ab-JOOR) 

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To avoid or abstain from.
2. To renounce under oath.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin abjurare (to deny on oath), from ab- (away) + jurare (to swear). Earliest documented use: 1430.

USAGE:

"Many modern writers abjure the power of stories in their work, banish them to the suburbs of literature, drive them out toward the lower pastures of the lesser moons."
Pat Conroy; Interpreting the World Through Story; The Writer (Waukesha, Wisconsin); Jun 2012.