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Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. "The cause of your abrupt departure." Shak.

In an abrupt manner; without giving notice, or without the usual forms; suddenly.

ue or organ of the body, the result of a morbid process. Cold abscess, an abscess of slow formation, unattended with the pain and heat characteristic of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess.

To withhold from being present. [Obs.] "Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more." Milton.

he common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), an intensely bitter plant, used as a tonic and for making the oil of wormwood.

ritative; peremptory. [R.] The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed. Mrs. Browning.

An absolving, or setting free from guilt, sin, or penalty; forgiveness of an offense. "Government . . . granting absolution to the nation." Froude.

Absorbing; swallowing; absorptive. Absorbent ground (Paint.), a ground prepared for a picture, chiefly with distemper, or water colors, by which the oil is absorbed, and a brilliancy is imparted to the colors.

To hold one's self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt Shak.

The act 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…

, "reptile" is an abstract or general name. Locke. A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression "abstract na…

f a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects…

To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.

To pay for; to suffer for; to atone for; to make amends for; to give satisfaction. [Obs.] Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear. Shak.

ss; unfathomable. Abyssal zone (Phys. Geog.), one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides 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.

A member of an academy, or society for promoting science, art, or literature, as of the French Academy, or the Royal Academy of arts.

An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a college and a common school.

To approach; to come forward; -- opposed to recede. [Obs.] T. Gale.

celerated motion (Mech.), motion with a continually increasing velocity. -- Accelerating force, the force which causes accelerated motion. Nichol.

An apparatus for studying the combustion of powder in guns, etc.