Abate | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

A-bāte', v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. ABATED; p. pr. & vb. n. ABATING.] [Fr. abattre (for abbattre), Pr. abatre, It. abbattere, Sp. abatir, Pg. abater, L. Lat. abatere, abatare, from Lat. ab and batuere, battuere, to beat, strike. See BATE.]

Sense 1. To beat or batter down. [Obs.]

The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls [of the Castle of Norham.] Hall.

Sense 2. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, degree, &c.; to lessen, to diminish, to remit, to deduct; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope, &c.

Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds. Fuller.

Sense 3. To lessen the dignity or consequence of by deprivation; to deprive. [Obs.]

She hath abated me of half my train. Shak.

Sense 4. (Law.) (a.) To bring entirely down or put an end to; 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-bāte', v. i.

verbintransitive

[imp. & p. p. ABATED; p. pr. & vb. n. ABATING.]

To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates; a storm abates.
To be defeated, or come to naught; to fail; as, a writ abates.
(Man.) 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 at all times. White.
(Law.) To enter into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, and before the heir or devisee takes possession. Blackstone.

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 excited state. Abate expresses this in respect to degrees, and implies a diminution of force or 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 sea 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 emotion as intense, we might use abate; as, his joy will abate in the progress of time; and so in other instances.

A-bāte', n.

noun

n. Abatement. [Obs.] Browne.