abate

Definitions

1. 1.To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; toto cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deut. xxxiv.
2. 2.3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price. Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds. Fuller.
3. 3.To blunt. [Obs.] To abate the edge of envy. Bacon.
4. 4.To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.] She hath abated me of half my train. Shak.
5. 5.(Law) (a) To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away with; as, to abate a nuisance, to abate a writ. (b) (Eng. Law) To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets. To abate a tax, to remit it either wholly or in part.
6. 6.To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates, a storm abates. The fury of Glengarry . . . rapidly abated. Macaulay.
7. 7.To be defeated, or come to naught; to fall through; to fail; as, a writ abates. To abate into a freehold, To abate in lands (Law), to enter into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, and before the heir takes possession. See Abatement, 4. -- To Abate, Subside. These words, as here compared, imply a coming down from some previously raised or exited state. Abate expresses this in respect to degrees, and implies a diminution of force or of intensity; as, the storm abates, the cold abates, the force of the wind abates; or, the wind abates, a fever abates. Subside (to settle down) has reference to a previous state of agitation or commotion; as, the waves subside after a storm, the wind subsides into a calm. When the words are used figuratively, the same distinction should be observed. If we conceive of a thing as having different degrees of intensity or strength, the word to be used is abate. Thus we say, a man's anger abates, the ardor of one's love abates, "Winter rage abates". But if the image be that of a sinking down into quiet from preceding excitement or commotion, the word to be used is subside; as, the tumult of the people subsides, the public mind subsided into a calm. The same is the case with those emotions which are tumultuous in their nature; as, his passion subsides, his joy quickly subsided, his grief subsided into a pleasing melancholy. Yet if, in such cases, we were thinking of the degree of violence of the emotion, we might use abate; as, his joy will abate in the progress of time; and so in other instances.
8. 8.Abatement. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "abate" mean?
• What is another word for "abate"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is abate.

• What is 3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price. Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds. Fuller called?
• What is to blunt. [Obs.] To abate the edge of envy. Bacon called?
• What is to reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.] She hath abated me of half my train. Shak called?
• What is to decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates, a storm abates. The fury of Glengarry . . . rapidly abated. Macaulay called?