consign

Borrowed from Old French consigner or directly from Latin cōnsignō (“furnish with a seal”), from con- + signō (“mark, sign”).

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsaɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪn
• Hyphenation: con‧sign

consign (third-person singular simple present consigns, present participle consigning, simple past and past participle consigned)

1. (transitive, business) To transfer to the custody of, usually for sale, transport, or safekeeping.
2. (transitive) To entrust to the care of another.
   • 1726, Alexander Pope, William Broome, and Elijah Fenton, transl., Odyssey, volume I, new edition, London: T. Longman et al., translation of original by Homer, published 1796, book III, lines 332–5, pages 147–8:

     For virtue’s image yet poſſeſt her mind, / Taught by a maſter of the tuneful kind : / Atrides, parting for the Trojan war, / Conſign’d the youthful conſort to his care.

3. (transitive) To send to a final destination.

   to consign the body to the grave

   • 1707 April 7, Francis Atterbury, “A Spittal-Sermon Preach’d at St. Bridget’s Church, before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor, &c.”, in Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, volume II, 5th edition, London: T. Woodward and C. Davis, published 1740, page 151:

     And this remarkable Property of Love will ſuggeſt to us one Reaſon, why Acts of Charity ſhall be enquir’d after ſo particularly, at the Day of general Account ; becauſe Good Men are then to be conſign’d over to another State, a State of everlaſting Love and Charity […]

   • 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian‎:

     If there's such a thing as pariah food – a recipe shunned by mainstream menus, mocked to near extinction and consigned to niche hinterlands for evermore – then the nut roast, a dish whose very name has become a watchword for sawdusty disappointment, is surely a strong contender.

4. To assign; to devote; to set apart.
   • a. 1700, John Dryden, “Dedication”, in The British Poets, volume XI, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and W. Creech, and J. Balfour, published 1773, page 13:

     The French commander, charmed with the greatneſs of your ſoul, accordingly conſign’d it [a donation] to the uſe for which it was intended by the donor […]

5. To stamp or impress; to affect.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, “Devotions for ordinary days”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 19th edition, London: J. Hepinstall, published 1703, page 44:

     Ennoble my ſoul with great degrees of love to thee, and conſign my ſpirit with great fear, religion and veneration of thy holy name and laws […]

See usage note for commit.

• consing, sconing