Search the Dictionary

One who absents himself from his country, office, post, or duty; especially, a landholder who lives in another country or district than that where his estate is situated; as, an Irish absentee. Macaulay.

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…

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

t idea (Metaph.), an idea separated from a complex object, or from other ideas which naturally accompany it; as the solidity of marble when contemplated apart from its color or figure. -- Abstract terms, those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exi…

To consume gradually; to waste away. [Obs.] Boyle.

tly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; as, an absurd person, an absurd opinion; an absurd dream. This proffer is absurd and reasonless. Shak. 'This phrase absurd to call a villain great. Pope. p. 9

One who, or that which, abuts. Specifically, the owner of a contiguous estate; as, the abutters on a street or a river.

ttomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit. Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss. Milton. The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light. Dryden.

ees and shrubs. Nearly 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates.

West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music. Academy figure (Paint.), a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model.

Gradually accelerating the movement.

event; as, to accelerate our departure. Accelerated motion (Mech.), motion with a continually increasing velocity. -- Accelerating force, the force which causes accelerated motion. Nichol.

To mark emphatically; to emphasize.

Act of accentuating; applications of accent. Specifically (Eccles. Mus.),

The meaning in which a word or expression is understood, or generally received; as, term is to be used according to its usual acceptation. My words, in common acceptation, Could never give this provocation. Gay.

One who accepts; specifically (Law & Com.),

ething added; addition; 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.

throne, an office, or dignity; as, the accession of the house of Stuart; -- applied especially to the epoch of a new dynasty.

cipal; contributing or contributory; said of persons and things, and, when of persons, usually in a bad sense; as, he was accessory to the riot; accessory sounds in music.