bid adieu

English

Verb

bid adieu (third-person singular simple present bids adieu, present participle bidding adieu, simple past bade adieu, past participle bidden adieu)

1. (transitive) To say goodbye to, to bid farewell.

   Ladies, gentlemen, I bid you adieu.

   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 345–346:

     “Do Veniam,” said his Superior; and the old man seized, with a trembling hand, a beverage to which he had been long unaccustomed, drained the cup with protracted delight, as if dwelling on the flavour and perfume, and set it down with a melancholy smile and shake of the head, as if bidding adieu in future to such delicious potations.

Usage notes

Also used with plural, as bid adieus or bid adieux, especially “bid one’s adieus” (say one’s goodbyes, share parting words).