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To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.

Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage; as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow.

ion. Hence, to agree or assent to a proposal or a view; as, he acceded to my request. The treaty of Hanover in 1725 . . . to which the Dutch afterwards acceded. Chesterfield.

hen their worth is great. Shak. To accept of ransom for my son. Milton. She accepted of a treat. Addison.

To treat courteously; to court. [Obs.] Spenser.

The science which treats of rays of light, especially of the actinic or chemical rays.

To treat with acupuncture.

That part of arithmetic which treats of adding numbers.

The part of physiology that treats of the glands.

Agreement to adhere; concurrence; assent. To that treaty Spain and England gave in their adhesion. Macaulay.

under the penalty of a curse; to appeal to in the most solemn or impressive manner; to entreat earnestly. Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. Josh. vi. 26. The high priest . . . said . . . I adjure thee by the living God, that thou…

s of the German Empire of joining their own ministers with those of the emperor in public treaties and negotiations to the common interest of the empire. Encyc. Brit.

used after the verb, or may be omitted. Both Houses declared that they could admit of no treaty with the king. Hume.

The science which treats of the air and other gaseous bodies under the action of force, and of their mechanical effects.

The science which treats of the properties of the air, and of the part it plays in nature. Craig.

That department of physics which treats of the atmosphere.

The science that treats of the equilibrium of elastic fluids, or that of bodies sustained in them. Hence it includes aëronautics.

Treatment of disease by the use of air or other gases.

y or philosophy of taste; the science of the beautiful in nature and art; esp. that which treats of the expression and embodiment of beauty by art.

tuneful Muse affords the sweetest numbers. Addison. The quiet lanes . . . afford calmer retreats. Gilpin.