ἀπολύω

(imperfect ἀπελυον); future ἀπολύσω; 1 aorist ἀπελυσα; passive, perfect ἀπολελυμαι; 1 aorist ἀπελυθην; (future ἀπολυθήσομαι); imperfect middle ἀπελυομην (Acts 28:25); used in the N. T. only in the historical books and in Heb 13:23; to loose from, sever by loosening, undo (see ἀπό, V.);
1. to set free: τινα τίνος (so in Greek writings even from Homer down), to liberate one from a thing (as from a bond), Lk 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: Mt 15:23; Lk 2:29 (`me whom thou hadst determined to keep on earth until I had seen the salvation prepared for Israel, cf. Lk 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 Num 20:29; Tobit 3:6; (cf. Gen 15:2; Gen 15:2 Macc. 7:9; Plutarch, consol. ad Apoll. § 13 cf. 11 at the end)); (Acts 23:22).
b. to bid depart, send away: Mt 14:15, Mt 14:22; Mt 15:32, Mt 15:39; Mk 6:36, Mk 6:45; Mk 8:3, Mk 8:9; Lk 8:38; Lk 9:12; Lk 14:4; Acts 13:3; Acts 19:41 (τήν ἐκκλησίαν); passive Acts 15:30, Acts 15:33.
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: Lk 22:68 (R G L Tr in brackets); ; Jn 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 Lk 13:12 (see 1 above, and Winer's Grammar, 334 (313))); Acts 28:18; Heb 13:23; ἀπολύειν τινα τίνι, to release one to one, grant him his liberty: Mt 27:15, Mt 27:17, Mt 27:21, Mt 27:26; Mk 15:6, Mk 15:9, Mk 15:11, Mk 15:15; Lk 23:1, (R L in brackets), Lk 23:18, Lk 23:20, Lk 23:25; (Jn 18:39).
b. to acquit one accused of a crime and set him at liberty: Jn 19:12; Acts 3:13.
c. indulgently to grant a prisoner leave to depart: Acts 4:21, Acts 4:23; 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: Mt 18:27; metaphorically, to pardon another his offences against me: Lk 6:37 (τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπολύεσθαι, 2 Macc. 12:45).
4. used of divorce, as ἀπολύω τήν γυναῖκα to dismiss from the house, to repudiate: Mt 1:19; Mt 5:31; Mt 19:3, Mt 19:7-9; Mk 10:2, Mk 10:4, Mk 10:11; Lk 16:18; (1 Esdr. 9:36); and improperly a wife deserting her husband is said τόν ἄνδρα ἀπολύειν in Mk 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, Jer 3:8; Deut 21:14; Deut 22:19, Deut 22:29).
5. Middle ἀπολύομαι, properly, to send oneself away; to depart (Winer's Grammar, 253 (238)): Acts 28:20 (returned home; Ex 33:11).