remit

present singular third person remits · participle present remitting · participle past remitted · past remitted · alternative remytte

1. transitiveTo transmit or send (e.g. money in payment); to supply.

   The Supreme Court today allowed major sponsors, including LG Electronics India (LGEI), to remit foreign exchange for the tournament.

   2003: The Hindu, World Cup sponsors can remit money in forex: SC read at https://web.archive.org/web/20060308013536/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/02/01/stories/2003020104090100.htm on 14 May 2006

   2 more examples

   Such a Step as this would raise a Succession of able Seamen, and in a few Years would come to remit a thousand, or perhaps two or three thousand sturdy Youths every Year into the general Class of English Seamen;

   1728, Daniel Defoe, chapter 3, in Some Considerations on the Reasonableness and Necessity of Encreasing and Encouraging the Seamen, London, page 45

   Doctor Strong refers to me in public as a promising young scholar. Mr. Dick is wild with joy, and my aunt remits me a guinea by the next post.

   1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 18, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

2. transitiveTo forgive, pardon (a wrong, offense, etc.).

   Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   3 more examples

   Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 20:23

   Mrs. Weſtern was a very good-natured Woman, and ordinarily of a forgiving Temper. She had lately remitted the Treſpaſs of a Stage-coach Man, who had overturned her Poſt-chaiſe into a Ditch; […]

   1749, Henry Fielding, “The Wise Demeanour of Mr. Western in the Character of a Magistrate. […]”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII, pages 62–63

   So he said that there was no sin to remit in baptism: ‘sin is not born with a man, it is subsequently committed by the man; for it is shown to be a fault, not of nature, but of the human will’.

   2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 307

3. transitiveTo refrain from exacting or enforcing; to cancel.

   to remit the performance of an obligation

   3 more examples

   1798, Hannah Brand, Huniades; or, The Siege of Belgrade, Act V, Scene 8, in Plays and Poems, Norwich, p. 131, I knelt for pardon, for this breach of Oath, Which, thou forgiving, I then shall hope Heaven will remit hereafter punishment;

   The sovereign was undoubtedly competent to remit penalties without limit.

   1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 33

   He also took that old lawyer out of prison and remitted his fine.

   1881, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Conclusion”, in The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages, Montreal, Que.: Dawson Brothers, →OCLC

4. obsoletetransitiveTo give up; omit; cease doing.

   1761, George Colman, The Genius, No. 12, 19 November, 1761, in Prose on Several Occasions, London: T. Cadel, 1787, p. 124, Among our own sex, there is no race of men more apt to indulge a spirit of acrimony, and to remit their natural Good Humour, than authors.

   2 more examples

   He who connected himself with a woman whose brother, sister, or other relations, were fugitives, would probably be tempted to remit his pursuit of them, and even to favour their concealment.

   1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 125

   I was obliged at last almost entirely to remit my visits to the Grove, at the expense of deeply offending Mrs. Hargrave and seriously afflicting poor Esther, who really values my society for want of better [...]

   1848, Anne Brontë, chapter 37, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

5. transitiveTo allow (something) to slacken, to relax (one's attention etc.).

   Our Supream Foe in time may much remit His anger,

   1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 210-211

   2 more examples

   The wind at sea generally blows with an even steady gale; the wind at land puffs by intervals, encreasing its strength, and remitting it, without any apparent cause.

   1774, Oliver Goldsmith, chapter 20, in An History of the Earth: and Animated Nature, volume 1, London: J. Nourse, page 352

   Their confidence revived, they might in a short time remit in some degree their watchfulness over my movements, and I should then be the better enabled to avail myself of any opportunity which presented itself for escape.

   1846, Herman Melville, chapter 18, in Typee

6. intransitiveobsoleteTo show a lessening or abatement (of a specified quality).

   1775, Samuel Jackson Pratt, The Legend of Benignus, Chapter 5, in Liberal Opinions, upon Animals, Man, and Providence, London: G. Robinson and J. Bew, Volume 1, p. 97, At the end of about two months, the severity of my fate began to remit of its rigour.

   1 more example

   Great Alexander in the midst of all his prosperity[…], when he saw one of his wounds bleed, remembered that he was but a man, and remitted of his pride.

   1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York: New York Review Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 132

7. intransitiveobsoleteTo diminish, abate.

   1783, Samuel Johnson, letter to James Boswell dated 30 September, 1783, in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 2, p. 467, … I have been for these ten days much harrassed with the gout, but that has now remitted.

   2 more examples

   [The water] sustains these Particles, and carries them on together with it ’till such time as its Motion begins to remit and be less rapid than it was at, and near its Source;

   1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, London: Richard Wilkin, Part 4, p. 198

   1720, Alexander Pope, The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintott, Volume 6, “Observations on the Twenty-Second Book,” no. 25, p. 52, … this is very agreeable to the Nature of Achilles; his Anger abates very slowly; it is stubborn, yet still it remits:

8. transitiveTo refer (something or someone) for deliberation, judgment, etc. (to a particular body or person).

   The Pris’ner was remitted to the Guard.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismonda and Guiscardo, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   [...] in grieuous and inhumane crimes, in such as ouerthrow the foundation of state, in such as shake the surety of humane society, I conceiue it more fit that offenders should be remitted to their Prince to be punished in the place where they haue offended.

   1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: John Partridge, page 119

   In this caſe the law remits him to his antient and more certain right, […]

   1768, William Blackstone, “Of Injuries to Real Property, and First of Dispossession, or Ouster, of the Freehold”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book III (Of Private Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 190

9. obsoletetransitiveTo send back.
10. archaictransitiveTo give or deliver up; surrender; resign.

    Princess of France. What, will you have me, or your pearl again? Biron. Neither of either; I remit both twain.

    c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

11. transitiveTo restore or replace.

    [...] the Archbishop was retained prisoner, but after a short time remitted to his liberty.

    a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC, page 117

    1 more example

    […] he bad the Lyon be remitted Into his seate, and those same treachours vile Be punished for their presumptuous guile.

    1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC

12. transitiveTo postpone.
13. obsoletetransitiveTo refer (someone to something), direct someone's attention to something.

    1668, Joseph Glanvill, Plus Ultra, or, The Progress and Advancement of Knowledge since the Days of Aristotle, London: James Collins, Preface, These are the things I thought fit to premise to my Discourse, to which now I remit your Eyes, without adding more …

    2 more examples

    You wonder how it comes to paſs that a King of Great Britain muſt now-adays be looked upon as one of the Magiſtrates of the Kingdom only; whereas in all other Kingly Governments in Chriſtendom, Kings are inveſted with a Free and Absolute Authority. For the Scots, I remit you to [George] Buchanan: For France, your own Native Countrey, to which you ſeem to be a ſtranger, to Hottoman's Franco Gallia, and Girardus a French Hiſtorian; [...]

    1692, John Milton, chapter VIII, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 180

    For the definitions of regularity, uniformity, proportion, and order, if thought necessary, I remit my reader to the appendix at the end of the book.

    1762, Henry Home, Lord Kames, chapter 3, in Elements of Criticism, volume 1, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid & J. Bell, page 247

plural remits · alternative remytte

1. UKTerms of reference; set of responsibilities; scope.

   2012, The Economist, Sep 29th 2012 issue, Chile's economic statistics: For richer—or poorer Chile needs to gather together its statisticians into a single agency, such as a new and improved INE, and give it more autonomy and a broader remit.

   4 more examples

   WHO/TDR should prepare a volume containing ... important issues in the performance of studies that fall outside of the GLP remit.

   2000: Scientific Working Group on Good Laboratory Practice issues, Handbook: Good Laboratory Practice read on World Health Organisation website at https://web.archive.org/web/20060325195225/http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/publications/pdf/glp-handbook.pdf on 14 May 2006

   However, this is beyond the remit of this particular article.

   2001: H. Meinardi et al, ILAE Commission, The treatment gap in epilepsy: the current situation and ways forward read at http://www.ilae-epilepsy.org/pubs/JAN2001.PDF on 14 May 2006

   Next steps ... Create one IS organisation and extend remit to all HE activities.

   2003: Andy Macleod, Cisco Systems, Pulling it all together - the 21st Century Campus read at http://www.ciscoeventreg.net/go/presentations/event3/a_macleod.pdf on 14 May 2006

   As an adjunct to the new corporate plan, the sector produced a 20-page prospectus explaining how it would fulfil its remit, which was approved by the Minister.

   2020 January 2, David Clough, “How InterCity came back from the brink”, in Rail, page 66

2. lawA communication from a superior court to a subordinate court.