1. To retire from; to give up or to abandon: In general, to relinquish is to leave without the intention of resuming to do something, and it is equivalent "to forsake", but it is not considered to be as strong as when someone uses "to abandon" and "to desert".
2. To put aside or to desist from something practiced, professed, or intended.
3. To let go; to surrender.
4. To cease holding physically; to release: to relinquish a grip. 5. Etymology: from Middle French relinquiss, a stem form of relinquir; from Latin relinquere, "to leave behind, to forsake, to abandon, to give up"; from re-, "back" + linquere, "to leave"; and also from Greek leipein, "to leave".