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Abstaining from wine. [Orig. Latin sense.] Under his special eye Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain. Milton.

or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also total abstinence. The abstinence from a prese…

Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite; abstemious; continent; temperate. Beau. & Fl.

Withdraw; separate. [Obs.] The more abstract . . . we are from the body. Norris.

Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. The evil abstracted stood from his own evil. Milton.

ithdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal. A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community. J. S. Mill.

Obtained from plants by distillation. [Obs.] Crabb.

Remote from apprehension; difficult to be comprehended or understood; recondite; as, abstruse learning. Profound and abstruse topics. Milman.

authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.

ides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants, etc.

or other higher institution of learning; scholarly; literary or classical, in distinction from scientific. "Academic courses." Warburton. "Academical study." Berkeley.

A garden or grove near Athens (so named from the hero Academus), where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences; hence, the school of philosophy of which Plato was head.

A group of Coelenterata, including the Medusæ or jellyfishes, and hydroids; -- so called from the stinging power they possess. Sometimes called sea nettles.

. -- Acceleration of the planets, the increasing velocity of their motion, in proceeding from the apogee to the perigee of their orbits.

rticulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.

A genus of European birds (so named from their sweet notes), including the hedge warbler. In America sometimes applied to the water thrushes.

Gratuitous discharge; a release from debt or obligation without payment; free remission.

ddition; as, an access of territory. [In this sense accession is more generally used.] I, from the influence of thy looks, receive Access in every virtue. Milton.

Increase by something added; that which is added; augmentation from without; as, an accession of wealth or territory. The only accession which the Roman empire received was the province of Britain. Gibbon.

A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as sweetness, softness.