Use of the phrase with abandon

Solution 1:

'With abandon' in this context means 'with abandonment of all inhibitions'.

Solution 2:

When the word abandon has the word with with in front of it it means without concerns or perhaps consequences or care what others think. she danced with abandon or she danced freely. He spent money with abandon or he spent money without thinking of the consequences. they drank with abandon and did not get up for work or they drank without caring about getting up for work. You could drive with abandon, swear with abandon, steal or lie with abandon, or even eat, drink or smoke with abandon. These may all have negative consequences but you are abandoning responsibility for a time. You can dance with abandon, sing with abandon, laugh with abandon or love with abandon. These things might make on feel uncomfortable but you are abandoning your inhibitions for a time.

I am not an English major but it is my native language and this is a funny word that is not really clearly explained in the dictionary.

Solution 3:

According to Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003), the verb abandon has been an English word since the 1300s, but the earliest instance of the noun form of abandon dates only to 1822. Here is the dictionary's entry for the noun form of the word:

abandon n (1822) : a thorough yielding to natural impulses; esp : ENTHUSIASM, EXUBERANCE {with reckless abandon}

The noun's meaning seems most closely related to definition 4 in the Eleventh Collegiate's entry for abandon as a transitive verb:

abandon vt (ME abandounen, fr. AF abanduner, fr. (mettre) a bandun to hand over, put in someone's control) (14c) ... 4 : to give (oneself) over unrestrainedly

I would assume that the "thorough yielding to natural impulses" cited in the dictionary's definition of the noun form arose from the "unrestrained giving over" sense of the verb form.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition (2010) has a similar definition of abandon as a noun:

abandon ... n. Great enthusiasm or lack of restraint: skied with abandon.

and a similar corresponding definition of abandon as a verb that may have been the source of the noun:

abandon tr.v. ... 5. To yield (oneself) completely, as to emotion.