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It burrows in the ground, and feeds entirely on ants, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.

To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.] She hath abated me of half my train. Shak.

trees, the ends of whose branches are sharpened and directed outwards, or against the enemy.

aberrant any form is, the greater must have been the number of connecting forms which, on my theory, have been exterminated. Darwin.

To protest against; to reject solemnly. [Obs.] I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul Refuse you for my judge. Shak.

To wait for; to be prepared for; to await; to watch for; as, I abide my time. "I will abide the coming of my lord." Tennyson.

An omen. [Obs.] High-thundering Juno's husband stirs my spirit with true abodes. Chapman.

ng approximately time, size, quantity. "To-morrow, about this time." Exod. ix. 18. "About my stature." Shak. He went out about the third hour. Matt. xx. 3.

prehension; above mean actions; conduct above reproach. "Thy worth . . . is actions above my gifts." Marlowe. I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Acts xxxvi. 13.

A mystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon.

A mystical word used as a charm and engraved on gems among the ancients; also, a gem stone thus engraved.

absent or withdrawn from a place or from companionship; -- opposed to presence. Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Phil. ii. 12.

To perform the process of abstraction. [R.] I own myself able to abstract in one sense. Berkeley.

omless; unending; profound. Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space. Carlyle.

An academy. [Poetic] Shak.

A member of an academy, university, or college.

A member of an academy, college, or university; an academician.

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

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

A mannerism or mode peculiar to an academy.