Excerpt
Grammar Girl's 101 Words to Sound SmartAbjureAbjure and jury both share the Latin root for "swear." Whereas a jury swears an oath, to abjure is to swear something off, to forswear it. Abjuring can be a formal act sealed by an oath, or an informal act similar to recanting a statement or shunning a person or activity."I abjure you," Alcide said. Colonel Flood winced, and young Sid, Amanda, and Culpepper looked both astonished and impressed, as if this were a ceremony they'd never thought to witness. "I see you no longer. I hunt with you no longer. I share flesh with you no longer."
--Charlaine Harris in the Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead to the World
I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.
--Leonardo da VinciGRAMMAR GIRL'S 101 WORDS TO SOUND SMART. Copyright © 2011 by Mignon Fogarty. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.