desist

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English desisten,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French desister,^[4][5][6][7] recorded in French from 1358 according to the OED, and now désister.^[4] Barnhart takes it from Middle French,^[3] while the Middle English Dictionary derives the Middle English verb directly from Latin.^[2] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from about 1230, in the sense to leave off.^[8] The source is from Latin dēsistō (“to stand aside, leave off, cease”),^[9][5] formed from dē- (“off”) and sistō (“to stop, come to a stand”),^[3][9] a reduplicated formation on stō (“to stand”),^[10][11][12] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand, make or be firm”).^[9] It is related to assist, consist, insist, persist and resist.^[5][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To refrain from something: in 1459, in a Yorkist pamphlet, where the writer says he will desist from extravagant talk and explain his intent.^[2][3] Etymonline gives the sense "refrain" for the mid-15th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The general sense of stopping or ceasing from an action is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave,^[4] or the 1520s in Etymonline.^[9] In the 16th century the verb could also be transitive, to discontinue something (1509–1784),^[4][11] and it could be followed by to and an infinitive (1539–1656) or by in;^[4] only the construction with from survives.^[4][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as to cease from anything, to stop, quoting Milton's Paradise Lost.^[14] From 1673 it was also used of ceasing to press a claim.^[4] The legal phrase cease and desist survives in the name of the cease-and-desist order.^[12]

Timeline

• 1459 – to refrain from something.^[2][3]
• 1509 – transitive, to discontinue (obsolete by 1784).^[4]
• 1530 – intransitive, to cease from an action, to leave off.^[4]
• 1539 – followed by to and an infinitive (obsolete by 1656).^[4]
• 1673 – to cease to press a claim.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stop doing something, or to refrain from continuing it, often followed by from: The neighbours were asked to desist from burning rubbish in the yard.^[12][15][11]
2. (obsolete) To leave off or discontinue something (transitive).^[4][11]

Word family

• desistance
• undesisting

Related words

• assist
• consist
• insist
• persist
• resist
• stand

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins