Adjacent Words

Abate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ABA'TE, v.t. [Heb. Ch., to beat. The Saxon has the participle gebatod, abated. The prefix is sunk to a in abate, and lost in beat. See Class Bd. No. 23, 33.]
1. To beat down; to pull down; to destroy in any manner; as to abate a nuisance.
2. To lessen; to diminish; to moderate; as to abate zeal; to abate pride; to abate a demand; to abate courage.
3. To lessen; to mitigate; as to abate pain or sorrow.
4. To overthrow; to cause to fail; to frustrate by judicial sentence; as to abate a writ.
5. To deject; to depress; as to abate the soul. Obs.
6. To deduct;
Nothing to add and nothing to abate.
7. To cause to fail; to annul. By the English law, a legacy to a charity is abated by a deficiency of assets.
8. In Conneticut, to remit, as to abate a tax.
ABA'TE, v.i. To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as pain abates; a storm abates.
2. To fail; to be defeated, or come to naught; as a writ abates. By the civil law a legacy to a charity does not abate by deficiency of assets.
3. In law, to enter into a freehold after the death of the last occupant, and before the heir or devisee takes possession.
4. In horsemanship, to perform well a downward motion. A horse is said to abate, or take down his curvets, when, working upon curvets, he puts both his hind legs to the ground at once, and observes the same exactness in all the times.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make less active or intense [syn: slake, abate, slack]
2: become less in amount or intensity; "The storm abated"; "The rain let up after a few hours" [syn: abate, let up, slack off, slack, die away]

Merriam Webster's

verb (abated; abating) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French abatre to strike down — more at rebate Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. a. to put an end to <abate a nuisance> b. nullify 1 <abate a writ> 2. a. to reduce in degree or intensity ; moderate <may abate their rancor to win peace> b. to reduce in value or amount ; make less especially by way of relief <abate a tax> 3. deduct, omit <abate part of the price> 4. a. to beat down or cut away so as to leave a figure in relief b. obsolete blunt 5. deprive 2 intransitive verb 1. to decrease in force or intensity 2. a. to become defeated or become null or void b. to decrease in amount or value • abater noun Synonyms: abate, subside, wane, ebb mean to die down in force or intensity. abate stresses the idea of progressive diminishing <the storm abated>. subside implies the ceasing of turbulence or agitation <the protests subsided after a few days>. wane suggests the fading or weakening of something good or impressive <waning enthusiasm>. ebb suggests the receding of something (as the tide) that commonly comes and goes <the ebbing of daylight>. Synonym: see in addition decrease.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. & intr. make or become less strong, severe, intense, etc. 2 tr. Law a quash (a writ or action). b put an end to (a nuisance). Derivatives: abatement n. Etymology: ME f. OF abatre f. Rmc (as A-(3), L batt(u)ere beat)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abate A*bate" ([.a]*b[=a]t"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abated, p. pr. & vb. n. Abating.] [OF. abatre to beat down, F. abattre, LL. abatere; ab or ad + batere, battere (popular form for L. batuere to beat). Cf. Bate, Batter.] 1. To beat down; to overthrow. [Obs.] The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls. --Edw. Hall. 2. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. --Deut. xxxiv. 7. 3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price. Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds. --Fuller. 4. To blunt. [Obs.] To abate the edge of envy. --Bacon. 5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.] She hath abated me of half my train. --Shak. 6. (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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abate A*bate" ([.a]*b[=a]t"), v. i. [See Abate, v. t.] 1. To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates, a storm abates. The fury of Glengarry . . . rapidly abated. --Macaulay. 2. 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. Syn: To subside; decrease; intermit; decline; diminish; lessen. Usage: To Abate, Subside. These words, as here compared, imply a coming down from some previously raised or excited 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's 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abate A*bate ([.a]*b[=a]t"), n. Abatement. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(abates, abating, abated) If something bad or undesirable abates, it becomes much less strong or severe. (FORMAL) The storms had abated by the time they rounded Cape Horn. VERB: V

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a-bat': Used six times in Old Testament for five different Hebrew words, signifying "to diminish," "reduce," "assuage"; of the Flood (Ge 8:8); of strength (De 34:7); of pecuniary value (Le 27:18); of wrath (Jud 8:3); of fire (Nu 11:2).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Lessen, diminish, decrease, reduce, lower, relax, slacken. 2. Remit, allow, bate, rebate, deduct. 3. Moderate, assuage, mitigate, soothe, soften, qualify, alleviate, mollify, allay, appease, pacify, compose, tranquillize, temper, attemper, quiet, quell, calm, dull, blunt. 4. Batter down, beat down, demolish, raze, lay low. 5. (Law.) Remove, suppress, terminate, put an end to. II. v. n. 1. Decrease, diminish, lessen, subside, sink, wane, decline, fall away, fall off, fade, fade away, ebb, intermit, slacken. 2. (Law.) Be defeated, frustrated, or overthrown, fail.

Moby Thesaurus

ablate, abolish, abrade, abrogate, abstract, adjust to, allay, alleviate, allow, alter, anesthetize, annihilate, annul, appease, assuage, attemper, attenuate, bank the fire, bate, be eaten away, benumb, blot out, blunt, box in, charge off, chasten, circumscribe, close, condition, constrain, consume, consume away, control, corrode, cramp, cripple, crumble, curtail, cushion, cut, damp, dampen, de-emphasize, deaden, deaden the pain, debilitate, decline, decrease, deduct, deliquesce, depreciate, derogate, detract, devitalize, die away, die down, dilute, diminish, discount, disparage, dive, downplay, drain, drop, drop off, dull, dwindle, ease, ease matters, ease off, ease up, eat away, ebb, enervate, enfeeble, eradicate, erode, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, extract, fall, fall away, fall off, file away, foment, give relief, gruel, hedge, hedge about, impair, invalidate, keep within bounds, kick back, languish, lay, lay low, leach, leaven, lenify, lessen, let down, let up, lighten, limit, loose, loosen, lull, make allowance, melt away, mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mollify, narrow, negate, nullify, numb, obtund, pad, palliate, play down, plummet, plunge, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, purify, qualify, quash, rattle, rebate, recede, reduce, reduce the temperature, refine, refund, regulate by, relax, relent, relieve, remit, remove, restrain, restrict, retrench, root out, rub away, run its course, run low, sag, salve, sap, season, set conditions, set limits, shake, shake up, shorten, shrink, sink, slack, slack off, slack up, slacken, slake, slow down, smother, sober, sober down, soften, soften up, soothe, stifle, stupe, subduct, subdue, subside, subtract, suppress, tail off, take a premium, take away, take from, take off, tame, taper, taper off, temper, thin, thin out, tone down, tune down, unbend, unbrace, undermine, underplay, undo, unman, unnerve, unstrain, unstrengthen, unstring, vitiate, wane, waste, waste away, water down, weaken, wear, wear away, weed, wipe out, withdraw, write off