ABASE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Abase

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verb

Abase v. t. (past & past part. abased; pres. part. abasing)

To lower or depress; to throw or cast down; as, to abase the eye. (Archaic) "Saying so, he abased his lance."

To cast down or reduce low or lower, as in rank, office, condition in life, or estimation of worthiness; to depress; to humble; to degrade. "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased."

Synonyms: To Abase, Debase, Degrade. These words agree in the idea of bringing down from a higher to a lower state. Abase has reference to a bringing down in condition or feelings; as, to abase the proud, to abase one's self before God. Debase has reference to the bringing down of a thing in purity, or making it base. It is, therefore, always used in a bad sense, as, to debase the coin of the kingdom, to debase the mind by vicious indulgence, to debase one's style by coarse or vulgar expressions. Degrade has reference to a bringing down from some higher grade or from some standard. Thus, a priest is degraded from the clerical office. When used in a moral sense, it denotes a bringing down in character and just estimation; as, degraded by intemperance, a degrading employment, etc. "Art is degraded when it is regarded only as a trade."

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Etymology of 'Abase'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abase" Quotes from Famous Books

... himself by means of self, and not abase self, Self is his own friend, is also his own enemy. To him is his self his own friend, who through self conquers self, Yet if it battle with the external world, then ...

— Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts • Herbert Silberer

... scientific method than this passage. There is neither excuse nor hypocrisy. It is merely a matter of business calculation. Mankind is the raw material, the State is the finished work. Further you are to conciliate your neighbours who are weak and abase the strong, and you must not let the stranger within your gates. Above all look before as well as after and think not to leave it to time, godere li benefici del tempo, but, as did the Romans, strike and strike ...

— Machiavelli, Volume I - The Art of War; and The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli

... of a brother, Lightly the son forgat his parents' piteous ashes. 400 Lightly the son's young grave his father pray'd for, an unwed Maiden, a step-dame fair in freer luxury clasping. Then did mother unholy to son that knew not abase her, Shamefully, fear'd not unholy the blessed dead to dishonour. Human, inhuman alike, in wayward infamy blending, 405 Turned far from us away that righteous counsel of heaven. Therefore proudly the Gods such sinful company ...

— The Poems and Fragments of Catullus • Catullus

... deeds Done by main strength? yet in my body is throned As great a heart, and in my spirit, O men, I have not less of godlike. Evil it were That one a coward should mix with you, one hand Fearful, one eye abase itself; and these Well might ye hate and well revile, not me. For not the difference of the several flesh Being vile or noble or beautiful or base Makes praiseworthy, but purer spirit and heart Higher than these meaner mouths and limbs, ...

— Atalanta in Calydon • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... ch. xxi. 26. Speaking of Zedekiah and his dethronement, the prophet represented the Deity, as saying, "thus saith the Lord God, remove the diadem, take off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, (i. e. the crown or sceptre of Judah,) and it shall be no more until he comes whose right it is, and I will ...

— Five Pebbles from the Brook • George Bethune English

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