Definition

to free fully, i.e. (literally) relieve, release, dismiss (reflexively, depart), or (figuratively) let die, pardon or (specially) divorce

Etymology

from G575 (ἀπό) and G3089 (λύω);

Where the KJV renders it

• (let) depart
• dismiss
• divorce
• forgive
• let go
• loose
• put (send) away
• release
• set at liberty

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.