Etymology

Borrowed from Middle FrenchCategory:English terms borrowed from Middle French#CONSIGNCategory:English terms derived from Middle French#CONSIGN consigner or directly from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CONSIGN cōnsignō (“furnish with a seal”), from con- + signō (“mark, sign”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsaɪn/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONSIGNCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONSIGN

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CONSIGN
• Rhymes: -aɪnCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪn#CONSIGNCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪn/2 syllables#CONSIGN
• Hyphenation: con‧sign

Verb

consign (third-person singular simple present consigns, present participle consigning, simple past and past participle consigned)Category:English lemmas#CONSIGNCategory:English verbs#CONSIGNCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CONSIGNCategory:Pages with entries#CONSIGNCategory:Pages with 1 entry#CONSIGN

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

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONSIGN) To send to a final destination.

   to consign the body to the graveCategory:English terms with usage examples#CONSIGN

   • 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, 5th edition, volume II, 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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

   • 1961 September, B. Perren, “The Tilbury Line serves industrial North Thameside”, in Modern Railways, page 359:

     This firm regularly consigns margarine in palletised wagon-loads to a wide variety of destinations.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

   • 2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 49:

     This controversial decision has consigned rail passengers to a considerable time penalty, when the direct route would have cut 45 minutes from Far North journey times.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONSIGN

Anagrams

• consing, sconing