/əˈbeɪt/
OriginFrom Middle English abaten, from Anglo-Norman abatre, from Late Latin abbattere, from Latin battere.
detailed etymology, sense derivation, and cognates
The verb is derived from Middle English abaten (“to demolish, knock down; to defeat, strike down; to strike or take down (a sail); to throw down; to bow dejectedly or submissively; to be dejected; to stop; to defeat, humiliate; to repeal (a law); to dismiss or quash (a lawsuit); to lessen, reduce; to injure, impair; to appease; to decline, grow less; to deduct, subtract; to make one’s way; attack (an enemy); (law) to enter or intrude upon (someone’s property); of a hawk: to beat or flap the wings”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman abater, abatier, abatre, abbatre, Middle French abattre, abatre, abattre, Old French abatre, abattre (“to demolish, knock down; to bring down, cut down; to lessen, reduce; to suppress; to stop; to discourage; to impoverish, ruin; to conquer; to overthrow; to kill; to remove (money) from circulation; (law) to annul”), from Late Latin abbattere (“to bring down, take down; to suppress; to debase (currency)”), from Latin ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; away from’) + Latin battere, from older battuere (“to beat, hit; to beat up; to fight”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig; to stab”)).
The noun is derived from the verb.
- transitiveTo lessen (something) in force or intensity; to moderate.
“[Jupiter] whiche by his goodnes as Marcianus ſaieth, abateth the malice of Saturne. Therfore the Poets faine, that he did put his father out of his kingdome, Iſidore writeth as he abateth the malice o”
“Abate thy rage ſweete knight,
Abate thy rage.”
“By the oft removal of a Wild-ſtock, cutting the ends of the Roots, and diſ-branching ſomewhat of the Head at every change of place, it will greatly abate of its natural wildneſs, and in time bring for”
- transitiveTo reduce (something) in amount or size.
“Thou haſt dominion ouer their power, and when they be exalted & ſet aloft in their waies, thou abateſt their courage, and deſtroyeſt them with thy mighty arme.”
“And receive into thy heart the instructions that I shall give thee now, and see that thou swerve not from them, nor abatest them a jot; for if thou observest them not, or departest in aught from them,”
“[…] Lance, after having made some shew of helping him to his horse, ran back to tell his master the joyful intelligence, that a lucky accident had abated Chiffinch's party to their own number.”
- transitiveTo cut away or hammer down (material from metalwork, a sculpture, etc.) in such a way as to leave a figure in relief.
- transitiveTo lower (something) in price or value.
“Few words drive a bargain with Peter Eskett. I never abate one farthing of my price; but then that price never asks more than a fair profit.”
- archaic, transitiveTo demolish or level to the ground (a building or other structure).
“[…] the kyng of Scottes […] with all hys hoſte and power entered into Englande (and threw doune pyles) the .xxij. daye of August, and planted hys ſiege before the Caſtell of Norham, and ſore abated th”
- archaic, transitiveTo give no consideration to (something); to treat as an exception.
“Abate throw at Nouum, and the whole world againe,
Cannot picke out fiue ſuch, take each one in his vaine.”
“Sir, he was not Scotch; and, abating his brutality, he was a very good maſter.”
- archaic, figuratively, transitiveTo dull (an edge, point, etc.); to blunt.
“Abate the edge of traitors gracious Lord,
That vvould reduce theſe bloudy daies againe,
And make poore England vveepe in ſtreames of bloud, […]”
“Wherefore you ſhall obſerue that the more deepe, and ſober ſort of Politique perſons, in their Greatneſſe, are euer bemoaning themſelues, what a Life they lead; Chanting a Quanta patimur. Not that the”
- transitiveTo make (a writ or other legal document) void; to nullify.
- transitiveTo put an end to (a nuisance).
“She was ordered by the court to abate the nuisance.”
“[…] the law allows an extrajudicial remedy, yet that does not exclude the ordinary courſe of juſtice: […] I may either abate a nuſance by my own authority, or call upon the law to do it for me: […]”
- US, transitiveTo dismiss or otherwise bring to an end (legal proceedings) before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
- obsolete, transitiveTo curtail or end (something); to cause to cease.
“to order restrictions to abate an emergency”
- obsolete, transitiveTo give (someone) a discount or rebate; also, to relieve (someone) of a debt.
“[…] when I talk'd of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for two shillings a week, which, intent as I now was on saving money, made some difference, she bid me not think of it, for she would”
- obsolete, transitiveTo bring down (someone) mentally or physically; to lower (someone) in status.
“He is honoured amonge theym that be honoured, that fortune abateth without faute: and he is shamed amonge theym that be shamed, that fortune inhanceth without merite.”
“Rules and axioms for preserving of a Kingdom.[…]If any great person to be abated, not to deal with him by calumniation or forged matter[…]”
“So long as the world lived by sense, and discourses of natural reason, as they were abated with human infirmities, and not at all heightened by the Spirit and divine revelation[…]”
- obsolete, transitiveChiefly followed by from, of, etc.: to omit or remove (a part from a whole); to deduct, to subtract.
“We will abate this price from the total.”
“Peter-pence succeeded; granted by Ina, king of the West Saxons, to pope Gregory II. anno 626. It was a penny paid for every chimney that smoked in England, which in that hospitable age had few smokele”
“Three shillings and eightpence, your worship—I could not abate a penny and set forth the value honestly.”
- obsolete, transitiveChiefly followed by of: to deprive (someone or something of another thing).
“She hath abated me of halfe my traine,
Lookt blacke vpon me, ſtrooke mee with her tongue
Moſt Serpent-like vpon the very heart, […]”
“But O Saint! be not thou an Epicure! If delight draw thy heart, thou loſeſt ſo much in delectation, as Religion; and abateſt thy Soul ſo much of Solace, as God of Service!”
- intransitiveTo decrease in force or intensity; to subside.
“[…] Plini writeth, that the crueltie of the Ramme abateth, if he bee perced in the horne neare vnto the eare. For the chiefeſt parte of his ſtrength, is in his hedd, where he is well armed to fighte.”
“[folio 8, verso] For Winters wrath beginnes to quell,
And pleaſant ſpryng appeareth. […] [folio 10, recto] Gloss. […] To quell) to abate.”
“My fury ſhall abate,
And I the Crownes will take.”
- intransitiveTo decrease in amount or size.
“And the waters returned from aboue the earth, going and returning: and after the end of the hundreth and fiftieth day the waters abated.”
“[…] the same greatness of wealth is for the most part not collected and obtained without sucking it from many, according to the received similitude of the spleen, which never swelleth but when the res”
“Whether fagged by the three days' running chase, and the resistance to his swimming in the knotted hamper he bore; or whether it was some latent deceitfulness and malice in him: whichever was true, th”
- intransitiveTo lower in price or value; (law) specifically, of a bequest in a will: to lower in value because the testator's estate is insufficient to satisfy all the bequests in full.
“Bequests and legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.”
“And in the caſe of a deficiency of aſſets, all the general legacies muſt abate proportionably, in order to pay the debts; but a ſpecific legacy (of a piece of plate, a horſe, or the like) is not to ab”
- archaic, figuratively, intransitiveOf an edge, point, etc.: to become blunt or dull.
“The third ſhild yelow, ſignifying the Barriers, and he that toucheth that ſhilde ſhalbee anſwered twelve ſtrokes at the Barriers, wyth the ſworde, edge and poynt abated.”
- historical, intransitiveOf a writ or other legal document: to become null and void; to cease to have effect.
“The writ has abated.”
“But where the Writ abateth for default of the Clerk, as where it abateth for falſe Latin, or variance, or want of form, there the defendant ſhall have the benefit of a new Writ by Journeys Accompts, b”
“If a Writ of Error abates or diſcontinues by the Act and Default of the Party, a ſecond Writ of Error ſhall be no Superſedeas; otherwiſe if it abates or diſcontinues by the Act of God or the Law.”
- US, intransitiveOf legal proceedings: to be dismissed or otherwise brought to an end before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
“[…] in actions ariſing ex contractu, by breach of promiſe and the like, where the right deſcends to the repreſentatives of the plaintiff, and thoſe of the defendant have aſſets to anſwer the demand, t”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo give a discount or rebate; to discount, to rebate.
- intransitive, obsoleteTo bow down; hence, to be abased or humbled.
- intransitive, obsoleteChiefly followed by of: to deduct or subtract from.
“So toilsome was the road to trace,
The guide, abating of his pace,
Led slowly through the pass's jaws, […]”
“So then, weighing all things well, and myself severely, I resolved to follow my Mentor's wise counsel; neither arrogating aught, nor abating of just dues; but circulating freely, sociably, and frankly”
- ambitransitive, historical, obsoleteTo enter upon and unlawfully seize (land) after the owner has died, thus preventing an heir from taking possession of it.
“So, if Lands be given to Father and Son, and to the heirs of their two bodies begotten, the remainder over in fee, and afterwards the Father dieth without any Iſſue but the Son, and afterwards the Son”
- obsolete, uncountableAbatement; reduction; (countable) an instance of this.
“[Letter to Algernon Sidney dated 13 October 1681 (Julian calendar).] There are many things make a man's life uneasy in the world, which are great abates to the pleasure of living, but scarcely one equ”
- obsolete, uncountableDeduction; subtraction; (countable) an instance of this.
“That men weigh heavier dead than alive, if experiment hath not failed us, we cannot reaſonably grant. For though the triall hereof cannot ſo well be made on the body of Man, nor will the difference be”
- obsoleteAn Italian abbot or other member of the clergy.
Formsabates(present, singular, third-person) · abating(participle, present) · abated(participle, past) · abated(past) · abate(infinitive) · abate(first-person, present, singular) · abated(first-person, past, singular) · abate(present, second-person, singular) · abatest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · abated(past, second-person, singular) · abatedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · abateth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · abated(past, singular, third-person) · abate(plural, present) · abated(past, plural) · abate(present, subjunctive) · abated(past, subjunctive) · abate(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past) · abates(plural)