ABATING
Verb
abating
present participle of abate
Noun
abating (uncountable)
(rhetoric) Anesis.
Source: Wiktionary
ABATE
A*bate", v.t. [imp.& p.p. Abated, p.pr. & vb.n. Abating.] Etym: [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; 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. 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)
Definition: (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.
A*bate", v.i. Etym: [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.
– 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.
A*bate, n.
Definition: Abatement. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition