Ab*solve" Absolving.] [L. absolvere to set free, to absolve; ab + solvere to loose. See Assoil, Solve.]
1.
To set free, or release, as from some obligation, debt, or responsibility, or from the consequences of guilt or such ties as it would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment.
Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.
Macaulay.
2.
To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); -- said of the sin or guilt.
In his name I absolve your perjury.
Gibbon.
3.
To finish; to accomplish.
[Obs.]
The work begun, how soon absolved.
Milton.
4.
To resolve or explain.
[Obs.] "We shall not
absolve the doubt."
Sir T. Browne.
Syn. -- To Absolve, Exonerate, Acquit. We speak of a man as absolved from something that binds his conscience, or involves the charge of wrongdoing; as, to absolve from allegiance or from the obligation of an oath, or a promise. We speak of a person as exonerated, when he is released from some burden which had rested upon him; as, to exonerate from suspicion, to exonerate from blame or odium. It implies a purely moral acquittal. We speak of a person as acquitted, when a decision has been made in his favor with reference to a specific charge, either by a jury or by disinterested persons; as, he was acquitted of all participation in the crime.
© Webster 1913.