verb (used with object)
- to suspend the meeting of (a club, legislature, committee, etc.) to a future time, another place, or indefinitely: to adjourn the court.
- to defer or postpone to a later time: They adjourned the meeting until the following Monday.
- to defer or postpone (a matter) to a future meeting of the same body.
- to defer or postpone (a matter) to some future time, either specified or not specified.
verb (used without object)
- to postpone, suspend, or transfer proceedings.
- to go to another place: to adjourn to the parlor.
verb
- (intr) (of a court, etc) to close at the end of a session
- to postpone or be postponed, esp temporarily or to another place
- (tr) to put off (a problem, discussion, etc) for later consideration; defer
- (intr) informal
- to move elsewherelet’s adjourn to the kitchen
- to stop work
early 14c., ajournen, “assign a day” (for convening or reconvening), from Old French ajourner (12c.) “meet” (at an appointed time), from the phrase à jorn “to a stated day” (à “to” + journ “day,” from Latin diurnus “daily;” see diurnal).
The sense is to set a date for a re-meeting. Meaning “to close a meeting” (with or without intention to reconvene) is from early 15c. Meaning “to go in a body to another place” (1640s) is colloquial. The unhistorical -d- was added 16c. Related: Adjourned; adjourning.