consign
part of speech
verb (consign, consigns, consigned, consigning) — formal
meaning for a pupil
1) (formal) To send goods to someone, often to be sold or delivered. tree →
2) (formal) To put someone or something in an unpleasant place or state, often to get rid of it: «consigned to the bin». tree →
3) (formal) To hand something over to someone's care: «consign the child to her aunt's care». tree →
sense in the lessons
A formal word met in older stories, history books and exam texts. Phrases: «consign to the rubbish bin», «consign to history» (to make something belong to the past and be forgotten), «consign to the scrapheap», «consigned to the attic». It tells the reader that something was sent away or put aside, often for good.
examples
- The old toys were consigned to the attic. tree →
- The broken chair was consigned to the skip. tree →
- The farmer consigned his apples to a shop in the city. tree →
- The king consigned the traitor to the dungeon. tree →
- Phones without buttons consigned old ones to history. tree →
- The orphan was consigned to the care of her grandmother. tree →
- My first drawing was consigned to the bin, but Mum rescued it. tree →
- The devoted wife breathed her last in the arms of Admetus, and he had just consigned her to the tomb, when Heracles chanced to come to the palace. tree →
note
Regular verb. The G is silent: con-SINE. Noun: «consignment» (a load of goods sent). Formal; in speech say «send», «put away» or «throw out». The pattern is usually «consign something/someone to something».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «consign» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.