Dictionary

consign en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /kənˈsaɪn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (transitive) To transfer to the custody of, usually for sale, transport, or safekeeping.
2. (transitive) To entrust to the care of another.
   • 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. 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:
3. (transitive) To send to a final destination.
   • to consign the body to the grave
   • This firm regularly consigns margarine in palletised wagon-loads to a wide variety of destinations. 1961 September, B. Perren, “The Tilbury Line serves industrial North Thameside”, in Modern Railways, page 359:
   • 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[…] 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:
   • 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. 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2016:
   • 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. 2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 49:
4. To assign; to devote; to set apart.
   • 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[…] a. 1700, John Dryden, “Dedication”, in The British Poets, volume XI, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and W. Creech, and J. Balfour, published 1773, page 13:
5. To stamp or impress; to affect.
   • 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[…] 1650, Jeremy Taylor, “Devotions for ordinary days”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 19th edition, London: J. Hepinstall, published 1703, page 44:

Forms

Deriveds

preconsign · consignable · consignation · consigner · reconsign · consignor · consignee · unconsigned · consignment

Translations (21)

cmn 交託 /交托 (to entrust to the care of another) · es consignar (to transfer to the custody of) · ru вверять (to entrust to the care of another) · bg предавам (to transfer to the custody of) · hu bizományba ad (to transfer to the custody of) · ru передавать (to transfer to the custody of) · bg доверя (to entrust to the care of another) · bg изпратя (to send to a final destination) · enm comaunden (to entrust to the care of another) · bg предам (to transfer to the custody of) · it consegnare (to transfer to the custody of) · tr sevk etmek (to transfer to the custody of) · tr emanet etmek (to entrust to the care of another) · bg поверявам (to entrust to the care of another) · bg изпращам (to send to a final destination) · es consignar (to entrust to the care of another) · enm comaunden (to send to a final destination) · bg поверя (to entrust to the care of another) · es consignar (to send to a final destination) · bg доверявам (to entrust to the care of another) · vi bỏ mối (to transfer to the custody of)