redeem

Recorded since c.1425, from Middle English redemen, modified from Old French redimer, from Latin redimō (“release; obviate; atone for”), itself from re- (“back; again”) + emō (“buy; gain, take, procure”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdiːm/

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• Rhymes: -iːm
• Hyphenation: re‧deem

redeem (third-person singular simple present redeems, present participle redeeming, simple past and past participle redeemed)

1. (transitive) To recover ownership of something by buying it back.
2. (transitive) To liberate by payment of a ransom.
3. (transitive) To set free by force.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

     Your Highneſſe needs not doubt but in ſhort time,
     He will with Tamburlaines deſtruction
     Redeeme you from this deadly ſeruitude.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Exodus 6:6:

     Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments ...

4. (transitive) To save, rescue
5. (transitive) To clear, release from debt or blame
6. (transitive) To expiate, atone (for)
7. (transitive, finance) To convert (some bond or security) into cash
8. (transitive) To save from a state of sin (and from its consequences).
9. (transitive) To repair, restore
10. (transitive) To reform, change (for the better)
11. (transitive) To restore the honour, worth, or reputation of oneself or something.
12. (transitive, archaic) To reclaim

• (recover ownership): buy back, repurchase

• abandon

• deemer, reemed