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To beat down; to overthrow. [Obs.] The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls. Edw. Hall.

The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; removal or putting an end to; as, the abatement of a nuisance is the suppression thereof.

a) One who abates a nuisance. (b) A person who, without right, enters into a freehold on the death of the last possessor, before the heir or devisee. Blackstone.

Among weaves, yarn for the warp. Hence, abb wool is wool for the abb.

The French word answering to the English abbot, the head of an abbey; but commonly a title of respect given in France to every one vested with the ecclesiastical habit or dress.

The superior or head of an abbey.

Purification by washing the hands before prayer; -- a Mohammedan rite. Heyse.

finitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy.

The act of abducing or abducting; a drawing apart; a carrying away. Roget.

One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a tyro.

Pertaining to, or formed by, the letters of the alphabet; alphabetic; hence, rudimentary. Abecedarian psalms, hymns, etc., compositions in which (like the 119th psalm in Hebrew) distinct portions or verses commence with successive letters of the alphabet. Hook.

The act of wandering; deviation, especially from truth or moral rectitude, from the natural state, or from a type. "The aberration of youth." Hall. "Aberrations from theory." Burke.

Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing; hence, strongly opposed to; as, abhorrent thoughts. The persons most abhorrent from blood and treason. Burke. The arts of pleasure in despotic courts I spurn abhorrent. Clover.

The state of abiding; abode; continuance; compliance (with). The Christians had no longer abidance in the holy hill of Palestine. Fuller. A judicious abidance by rules. Helps.

to sojourn; -- with with before a person, and commonly with at or in before a place. Let the damsel abide with us a few days. Gen. xxiv. 55.

A lady's waiting-maid. Pepys. Her abigail reported that Mrs. Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in. Leslie.

Cast down; low-lying. [Obs.] From the safe shore their floating carcasses And broken chariot wheels; so thick bestrown Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood. Milton.

The act of abjuring or forswearing; a renunciation upon oath; as, abjuration of the realm, a sworn banishment, an oath taken to leave the country and never to return.

unce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow; as, to abjure allegiance to a prince. To abjure the realm, is to swear to abandon it forever.

Diminishing; as, an ablatitious force. Sir J. Herschel.