Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB-SOLVE', v.t. [abzolv'; L. absolvo, from ab and solvo, to loose or release; Ch. שלה, shalah, to absolve, to finish; Heb. של, shal, to loose or loosen. See Solve.]

To set free or release from some obligation, debt or responsibility; or from that which subjects a person to a burden or penalty; as, to absolve a person from a promise; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment. Hence, in the civil law, the word was used for acquit; and in the canon law, for forgive, or a sentence of remission. In ordinary language, its sense is to set free or release from an engagement. Formerly, good writers used the word in the sense of finish, accomplish; as, to absolve work, in Milton; but in this sense, it seems to be obsolete.