Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To suspend until a later stated time.
- v. To suspend proceedings to another time or place.
- v. To move from one place to another: After the meal we adjourned to the living room.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To put off or defer, properly to another day, but also till a later period indefinitely.
- Specifically To suspend the meeting of, as a public or private body, to a future day or to another place; also, defer or postpone to a future meeting of the same body: as, the court adjourned the consideration of the question.
- To suspend a sitting or transaction till another day, or transfer it to another place: usually said of legislatures, courts, or other formally organized bodies: as, the legislature adjourned at four o'clock; the meeting adjourned to the town hall.
Wiktionary
- v. To postpone.
- v. Temporarily ending an event with intentions to complete it at another time or place.
- v. Of an event: To end or suspend
- v. To move from one place to another.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To put off or defer to another day, or indefinitely; to postpone; to close or suspend for the day; -- commonly said of the meeting, or the action, of convened body
- v. To suspend business for a time, as from one day to another, or for a longer period, or indefinitely; usually, to suspend public business, as of legislatures and courts, or other convened bodies
WordNet 3.0
- v. break from a meeting or gathering
- v. close at the end of a session
Etymologies
- Middle English ajournen, from Old French ajourner : a-, to (from Latin ad-; see ad-) + jour, day (from Late Latin diurnum, from Latin diurnus, daily, from diēs, day; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots).
Examples
“Ntsebeza said he had used the word "adjourn" advisedly in ending the day's proceedings.”
“Later Mr. Bobbsey learned that the senators and congressmen were meeting at night in order to finish a lot of work so they could the sooner end the session -- "adjourn," as it is called.”
“Inviting the opposition to 'adjourn' their effort to adjourn Assembly sessions, Mr. Bhattacharjee said they could instead join hands with the government for the State's development.”
“Between 4 and 5. the Gov 'adjourn'd to Ten a-clock Satterday mornings and presently rose up and went away.”
Internet Archive: Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society
“Page 41 striking out all after the word "adjourn" and inserting "sine die.”
Journal of the House of Delegates of the State of Virginia, for the Called Session of 1862
“If the Senate wants to adjourn and the House won't permit it, the President can adjourn both houses of Congress.”
“Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.”
“He may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper . . .”
“When the House and Senate cannot agree on the timing of adjournment, the Constitution explicitly provides the President the power to adjourn the Congress:”
“Aware that Congress was planning to adjourn that day, Eisenhower wanted congressional leaders notified “on a most secret and confidential basis that the situation might get so serious that they might have to be called back into session.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adjourn’.
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Legislative Terms
US Congress/Senate + Westminster + European Parliament usage
unfinished business, third reading file, speaker pro tempore, voice vote, veto, upper house, urgency measure, unicameral, urgency clause, two-thirds vote, tombstone, third reading and 652 more...
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My daily Wordsheets
paramour, flail, addle, adduce, adduction, adenitis, adenocarcinoma, adhocracy, adiabatic, adipocyte, adiposity, postpone and 25 more...
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MUN Vocabulary
suspend, abstain, adjourn, agenda, amendment, binding, background guide, bloc, caucus, chair, dais, decorum and 41 more...
mialuthien to adjourn – to suspend until a later stated time Jul 13, 2008