1. to set free: τινα τίνος (so in Greek writings even from Homer down), to liberate one from a thing (as from a bond), Luke 13:12 (ἀπολέλυσαι (thou hast been loosed i. e.) be thou free from (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 40, 4) τῆς ἀσθενείας (L T ἀπό τῆς ἀσθενείας)).

2. to let go, dismiss (to detain no longer); τινα, a. a suppliant to whom liberty to depart is given by a decisive answer: Matthew 15:23; Luke 2:29 (`me whom thou hadst determined to keep on earth until I had seen the salvation prepared for Israel, cf. Luke 2:26, thou art now dismissing with my wish accomplished, and this dismission is at the same time dismission also from life' — in reference to which ἀπολύειν is used in Numbers 20:29; Tobit 3:6; (cf. Genesis 15:2; 2 Macc. 7:9; Plutarch, consol. ad Apoll. § 13 cf. 11 at the end)); (Acts 23:22).

b. to bid depart, send away: Matthew 14:15, 22; Matthew 15:32, 39; Mark 6:36, 45; Mark 8:3, 9; Luke 8:38; Luke 9:12; Luke 14:4; Acts 13:3; Acts 19:41 (τήν ἐκκλησίαν); passive Acts 15:30, 33.

3. to let go free, to release;

a. a captive, i. e. to loose his bonds and bid him depart, to give him liberty to depart: Luke 22:68 (R G L Tr in brackets); ; John 19:10; Acts 16:35; Acts 26:32 (ἀπολελύσθαι ἐδύνατο (might have been set at liberty, cf. Buttmann, 217 (187), § 139, 27 c.; Winers Grammar, 305 (286) i. e.) might be free; perfect as in Luke 13:12 (see 1 above, and Winer's Grammar, 334 (313))); Acts 28:18; Hebrews 13:23; ἀπολύειν τινα τίνι, to release one to one, grant him his liberty: Matthew 27:15, 17, 21, 26; Mark 15:6, 9, 11, 15; Luke 23:(), (R L in brackets), ; (John 18:39).

b. to acquit one accused of a crime and set him at liberty: John 19:12; Acts 3:13.

c. indulgently to grant a prisoner leave to depart: Acts 4:21, 23; Acts 5:40; Acts 17:9.

d. to release a debtor, i. e. not to press one's claim against him, to remit his debt: Matthew 18:27; metaphorically, to pardon another his offences against me: Luke 6:37 (τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπολύεσθαι, 2 Macc. 12:45).

4. used of divorce, as ἀπολύω τήν γυναῖκα to dismiss from the house, to repudiate: Matthew 1:19; Matthew 5:31; Matthew 19:3, 7-9; Mark 10:2, 4, 11; Luke 16:18; (1 Esdr. 9:36); and improperly a wife deserting her husband is said τόν ἄνδρα ἀπολύειν in Mark 10:12 (cf. Diodorus 12, 18) (unless, as is more probable, Mark, contrary to historic accuracy (yet cf. Josephus, Antiquities 15, 7, 10), makes Jesus speak in accordance with Greek and Roman usage, according to which wives also repudiated their husbands (references in Meyer, at the passage)); (cf. שִׁלַּח, Jeremiah 3:8; Deuteronomy 21:14; Deuteronomy 22:19, 29).

5. Middle ἀπολύομαι, properly, to send oneself away; to depart (Winer's Grammar, 253 (238)): Acts 28:20 (returned home; Exodus 33:11).