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Abate   /əbˈeɪt/   Listen
verb
Abate  v. t.  (past & past part. abated, pres. part. abating)  
1.
To beat down; to overthrow. (Obs.) "The King of Scots... sore abated the walls."
2.
To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."
3.
To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price. "Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds."
4.
To blunt. (Obs.) "To abate the edge of envy."
5.
To reduce in estimation; to deprive. (Obs.) "She hath abated me of half my train."
6.
(Law)
(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.


Abate  v. i.  
1.
To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates, a storm abates. "The fury of Glengarry... rapidly abated."
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.
Synonyms: 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 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'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 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.


noun
Abate  n.  Abatement. (Obs.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Abate" Quotes from Famous Books



... Islands, when found by us, had become an abject race, more docile and submissive than those of any other locality. The native African was of a fierce and mettlesome temper, sullen and untamable. The master was obliged to abate something of the usual rigor in dealing with the imported slaves. A tax-commissioner, now at Port Royal, and formerly a resident of South Carolina, told me that a native African belonging to his father, though a faithful man, would perpetually insist ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. September, 1863, No. LXXI. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... affairs, and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner; whence it came to pass that the nation paid Antipater the respects that were due only to a king, and the honors they all yielded him were equal to the honors due to an absolute lord; yet did he not abate any part of that good-will or fidelity which he owed ...
— The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem • Flavius Josephus
... observe and regulate the rate of fire. The platoon guides watch the firing line and check every breach of fire discipline. Squad leaders transmit commands and signals when necessary, observe the conduct of their squads and abate excitement, assist in enforcing fire discipline and ...
— Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army, 1911 - Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes Nos. 1 to 19) • United States War Department
... abuses of the turnpike system, they were subjected. Galled by this burden, to which they were rendered more sensitive by reason of their poverty, and hopeless of obtaining any assistance or relief by legitimate means, the people resolved to take the law in their own hands, and abate the source of so much annoyance and distress by the ...
— Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign • John Ashton
... began to abate. The vault of clouds seemed to rise and heighten and suddenly, through a rift, a long ray of sunshine fell upon the fields, and presently the clouds separated, showing the blue firmament, and then, like the ...
— Une Vie, A Piece of String and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant


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