Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To abstain from; relinquish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A Middle English form of forego.
  • To go or pass by without claiming; forbear to possess, use, or do; voluntarily avoid or give up; renounce; resign.
  • To quit; leave.
  • Synonyms To yield, relinquish, let go.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To pass by; to leave. See 1st forego.
  • transitive verb to abstain from; to do without; to refrain from; to renounce; -- said of a thing already enjoyed, or of one within reach, or anticipated. See 1st forego, 2.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To let pass, to leave alone
  • verb To do without, to abandon
  • verb To refrain from, to abstain from, to pass up, to withgo.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb do without or cease to hold or adhere to
  • verb lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime
  • verb be earlier in time; go back further

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English forgon, from Old English forgān, go away, forgo : for-, for- + gān, to go; see ghē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English forgon ("to go by, pass up"), from Old English forgān ("to go away, forgo"). More at for- +‎ go.

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Examples

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  • Cf. forego.

    October 24, 2011