Adjacent Words

Abyss definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ABYSS', n. [Gr. bottomless, from a priv. and bottom, Ion. See Bottom.]
1. A bottomless gulf; used also for a deep mass of waters, supposed by some to have encompassed the earth before the flood.
Darkness was upon the face of the deep, or abyss, as it is in the Septuagint. Gen
1:2.
The word is also used for an immense cavern in the earth, in which God is supposed to have collected all the waters on the third day of the creation. It is used also for hell, Erebus.
2. That which is immeasurable; that in which any thing is lost.
Thy throne is darkness, in the abyss of light.
The abyss of time.
3. In antiquity, the temple of Proserpine, so called from the immense treasures it was supposed to contain.
4. In heraldry, the center of an escutcheon.
He bears azure, a fleur de lis, in abyss.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively) [syn: abyss, abysm]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus, from Greek abyssos, from abyssos, adjective, bottomless, from a- + byssos depth; perhaps akin to Greek bathys deep Date: 14th century 1. the bottomless gulf, pit, or chaos of the old cosmogonies 2. a. an immeasurably deep gulf or great space b. intellectual or moral depths

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm. 2 a an immeasurable depth (abyss of despair). b a catastrophic situation as contemplated or feared (his loss brought him a step nearer the abyss). 3 (prec. by the) primal chaos, hell. Etymology: ME f. LL abyssus f. Gk abussos bottomless (as A-(1), bussos depth)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abyss A*byss", n. [L. abyssus a bottomless gulf, fr. Gr. ? bottomless; 'a priv. + ? depth, bottom.] 1. 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. 2. Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth. The abysses of metaphysical theology. --Macaulay. In unfathomable abysses of disgrace. --Burke. 3. (Her.) The center of an escutcheon. Note: This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished. --Encyc. Brit.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(abysses) 1. An abyss is a very deep hole in the ground. (LITERARY) N-COUNT: usu sing 2. If someone is on the edge or brink of an abyss, they are about to enter into a very frightening or threatening situation. (LITERARY) N-COUNT: usu sing

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a-bis', (he abussos): In classical Greek the word is always an adjective, and is used

(1) literally, "very deep," "bottomless";

(2) figuratively, "unfathomable," "boundless." "Abyss" does not occur in the King James Version but the Revised Version (British and American) so transliterates abussos in each case. The the King James Version renders the Greek by "the deep" in two passages (Lu 8:31; Ro 10:7). In Revelation the King James Version renders by "the bottomless pit" (Re 9:1,2,11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1,3). In the Septuagint abussos is the rendering of the Hebrew word tehom. According to primitive Semitic cosmogony the earth was supposed to rest on a vast body of water which was the source of all springs of water and rivers (Ge 1:2; De 8:7; Ps 24:2; 136:6). This subterranean ocean is sometimes described as "the water under the earth" (Ex 20:4; De 5:8). According to Job 41:32 tehom is the home of the leviathan in which he plows his hoary path of foam. The Septuagint never uses abussos as a rendering of sheol (= Sheol = Hades) and probably tehom never meant the "abode of the dead" which was the ordinary meaning of Sheol. In Ps 71:20 tehom is used figuratively, and denotes "many and sore troubles" through which the psalmist has passed (compare Jon 2:5). But in the New Testament the word abussos means the "abode of demons." In Lu 8:31 the King James Version renders "into the deep" (Weymouth and The Twentieth Century New Testament = "into the bottomless pit"). The demons do not wish to be sent to their place of punishment before their destined time. Mark simply says "out of the country" (Lu 5:10). In Ro 10:7 the word is equivalent to Hades, the abode of the dead. In Revelation (where the King James Version renders invariably "the bottomless pit") abussos denotes the abode of evil spirits, but not the place of final punishment; it is therefore to be distinguished from the "lake of fire and brimstone" where the beast and the false prophet are, and into which the Devil is to be finally cast (Re 19:20; 20:10).

See also ASTRONOMY, sec. III, 7.

Thomas Lewis

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Gulf, gorge, great depth, deep pit, abysm, depth, deep, chasm, profound. 2. Hell, limbo, purgatory, the pit, bottomless pit, the nadir, gehenna, fire unquenchable, the lake that burneth forever.

Moby Thesaurus

Bassalia, Gehenna, Sheol, Tophet, abysm, abyssal zone, arroyo, bathyal zone, benthos, bottom waters, bottomless depths, box canyon, breach, break, canyon, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, deep, deepness, defile, dell, depth, dig, diggings, dike, ditch, donga, draw, excavation, fault, fissure, flaw, flume, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gorge, groove, ground, gulch, gulf, gully, hades, hole, hollow, incision, inferno, inner space, joint, kloof, leak, mine, moat, netherworld, notch, nullah, ocean bottom, ocean depths, ocean floor, opening, pass, passage, pelagic zone, perdition, pit, profoundness, profundity, quarry, ravine, rent, rift, rime, rupture, scissure, seam, shaft, slit, slot, split, the deep, the deep sea, the deeps, the depths, trench, underworld, valley, void, wadi, well, workings, yawning abyss