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Relating to the patriarch Abraham.

One of a set of vagabonds who formerly roamed through England, feigning lunacy for the sake of obtaining alms. Nares. To sham Abraham, to feign sickness. Goldsmith.

A group of annelids, so called because the species composing it have no special organs of respiration.

The act of abrading, wearing, or rubbing off; the wearing away by friction; as, the abrasion of coins.

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

Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, "Two men could hardly walk abreast." Macaulay.

To renounce. [Obs.] "They abrenounce and cast them off." Latimer.

Absolute renunciation or repudiation. [Obs.] An abrenunciation of that truth which he so long had professed, and still believed. Fuller.

The joint or interstice between stones, to be filled with mortar. Gwilt.

n; to lessen; to diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge power or rights. "The bridegroom . . . abridged his visit." Smollett. She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. Fuller.

The act abridging, or the state of being abridged; diminution; lessening; reduction or deprivation; as, an abridgment of pleasures or of expenses.

Hence: In a state to be diffused or propagated; afoot; astir. "Mischiefs that I set abroach." Shak.

At large; widely; broadly; over a wide space; as, a tree spreads its branches abroad. The fox roams far abroad. Prior.

To annul by an authoritative act; to abolish by the authority of the maker or his successor; to repeal; -- applied to the repeal of laws, decrees, ordinances, the abolition of customs, etc. Let us see whether the New Testament abrogates what we so frequently see in the Old. South. Whose laws, like those of the Medes an…

The act of abrogating; repeal by authority. Hume.

In the act of brooding. [Obs.] Abp. Sancroft.

or craggy, as rocks, precipices, banks; precipitous; steep; as, abrupt places. "Tumbling through ricks abrupt," Thomson.

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

The state of being abrupt or broken; craggedness; ruggedness; steepness.

A collection of pus or purulent matter in any tissue 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.…