discontinue

present singular third person discontinues · participle present discontinuing · participle past discontinued · past discontinued

1. transitiveTo interrupt the continuance of; to put an end to, especially as regards commercial productions; to stop producing, making, or supplying.

   They plan to discontinue that design.

   5 more examples

   I have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

   Taught the Greek tongue, discontinued before in these parts the space of seven hundred years.

   1603, Samuel Daniel, A Defence of Rime

   They modify and discriminate the voice, without appearing to discontinue it.

   1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

   Passenger traffic was subsequently discontinued, and early in the recent war a considerable amount of the permanent way at the Treforest end of the railway was taken up.

   1946 January and February, “Notes and News: Demolition of Rhydyfelin Viaduct”, in Railway Magazine, page 52

   Exactly 50 years ago, the U.S. Federal Reserve, which had previously issued bills with values as high as $10,000, made it all about the Benjamins. Every bill more valuable than $100 was officially discontinued. (They’d stopped being printed decades earlier, but many had kept circulating.)

   2019 July 3, Mike D'Angelo, “Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck blunder through a heavy heist in J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

2. transitiveTo consciously cease the ingestion or administration of (a pharmaceutical drug).

   AZT, the only AIDS treatment fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is extremely toxic, and many people with AIDS cannot cake it or must discontinue taking it after some period of time.

   1989 April 8, Judy Harris, “Fenway to Administer Peptide T”, in Gay Community News, page 3