"a letting loose, freedom from self-restraint, surrender to natural impulses," by 1822 as a French word in English (it remained in italics or quotation marks through much of the 19c.; the naturalized abandonment in this sense was attempted from 1834), from a sense in French abandon "abandonment; permission" (12c.), from abandonner "to surrender, release" (see abandon (v.)).
The noun was borrowed earlier (c. 1400) from Old French in a sense "(someone's) control;" and compare Middle English adverbial phrase at abandon, i.e. "recklessly," attested from late 14c. In Old French, the past-participle adjective abandoné came to mean "zealous, eager, unreserved."
