Search the Dictionary

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

nded with the pain and heat characteristic of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess.

The act or process of cutting off. "Not to be cured without the abscission of a member." Jer. Taylor.

om any limitation or condition; uncontrolled; unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority, monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command; absolute power; an absolute monarch.

The exercise of priestly jurisdiction in the sacrament of penance, by which Catholics believe the sins of the truly penitent are forgiven.

. Etym: [L., without this.] (Law) The technical words of denial used in traversing what has been alleged, and is repeated.

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 exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of simi…

oncealed or hidden out of the way. [Obs.] The eternal eye whose sight discerns Abstrusest thoughts. Milton.

o 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.

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

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

To a fathomless depth; profoundly. "Abysmally ignorant." G. Eliot.

A bottomless 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.

Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; 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,…

Without a calyx, or outer floral envelope.

Without a heart; as, an acardiac fetus.

Without accent.

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

or contributing to, a crime, but not as chief actor. See Accessory. To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. Shak. Amongst many secondary and accessary causes that support monarchy, these are not of least reckoning. 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.