Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1st 100 Pages). Noah Webster
absurdities.
Johnson.
AbÏsurd¶ly, adv. In an absurd manner.
AbÏsurd¶ness, n. Absurdity. [R.]
Ø AÏbu¶na (#), n. [Eth. and Ar., our father.] The Patriarch, or head of the Abyssinian Church.
AÏbun¶dance (#), n. [OE. (h)abudaunce, abundance, F. abundance, F. abondance, L. abundantia, fr. abundare. See Abound.] An overflowing fullness; ample sufficiency; great plenty; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; wealth: Ð strictly applicable to quantity only, but sometimes used of number.
It is lamentable to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been shed with small benefit to the Christian state.
Raleigh.
Syn. Ð Exuberance; plenteousness; plenty; copiousness; overflow; riches; affluence; wealth. Ð Abundance, Plenty, Exuberance. These words rise upon each other in expressing the idea of fullness. Plenty denotes a sufficiency to supply every want; as, plenty of food, plenty of money, etc. Abundance express more, and gives the idea of superfluity or excess; as, abundance of riches, an abundance of wit and humor; often, however, it only denotes plenty in a high degree. Exuberance rises still higher, and implies a bursting forth on every side, producing great superfluity or redundance; as, an exuberance of mirth, an exuberance of animal spirits, etc.
AÏbun¶dant (#), a. [OE. (h)abundant, aboundant, F. abondant, fr. L. abudans, p. pr. of abundare. See Abound.] Fully sufficient; plentiful; in copious supply; Ð followed by in, rarely by with. ½Abundant in goodness and truth.¸
Exod. xxxiv. 6.
Abundant number (Math.), a number, the sum of whose aliquot parts exceeds the number itself. Thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, the aliquot parts of 12, make the number 16. This is opposed to a deficient number, as 14, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2, 7, the sum of which is 10; and to a perfect number, which is equal to the sum of its aliquot parts, as 6, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2., 3.
Syn. Ð Ample; plentiful; copious; plenteous; exuberant; overflowing; rich; teeming; profuse; bountiful; liberal. See Ample.
AÏbun¶dantÏly, adv. In a sufficient degree; fully; amply; plentifully; in large measure.
AÏburst¶ (#), adv. [Pref. aÐ + burst.] In a bursting condition.
AÏbus¶aÏble (#), a. That may be abused.
AÏbus¶age (#), n. Abuse. [Obs.]
Whately (1634).
AÏbuse¶ (#), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abused (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Abusing.] [F. abuser; L. abusus, p. p. of abuti to abuse, misuse; ab + uti to use. See Use.] 1. To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority.
This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity.
Froude.
2. To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.
3. To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage.
The … tellers of news abused the general.
Macaulay.
4. To dishonor. ½Shall flight abuse your name?¸
Shak.
5. To violate; to ravish.
Spenser.
6. To deceive; to impose on. [Obs.]
Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object.
Jer. Taylor.
Syn. Ð To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign.
AÏbuse¶ (#), n. [F. abus, L. abusus, fr. abuti. See Abuse, v. t.] 1. Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language.
Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
Madison.
2. Physical ill treatment; injury. ½Rejoice … at the abuse of Falstaff.¸
Shak.
3. A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service.
Abuse after disappeared without a struggle..
Macaulay.
4. Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling.
The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.
Macaulay.
5. Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. [Obs.]
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Shak.
Abuse of distress (Law), a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained, by the distrainer.
Syn. Ð Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult; opprobrium. Ð Abuse, Invective. Abuse is generally prompted by anger, and vented in harsh and unseemly words. It is more personal and coarse than invective. Abuse generally takes place in private quarrels; invective in writing or public discussions. Invective may be conveyed in refined language and dictated by indignation against what is blameworthy.
C. J. Smith.
AÏbuse¶ful (#), a. Full of abuse; abusive. [R.] ½Abuseful names.¸
Bp. Barlow.
AÏbus¶er (#), n. One who abuses [ in the various senses of the verb].
AÏbu¶sion (#), n. [OE. abusion, abusioun, OF. abusion, fr. L. abusio misuse of words, f. abuti. See Abuse, v. t.] Evil or corrupt usage; abuse; wrong; reproach; deception; cheat.
Chaucer.
AÏbu¶sive (#), a. [Cf. F. abusif, fr. L. abusivus.] 1. Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied.
I am … necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive acceptation thereof.
Fuller.
2. Given to misusing; also, full of abuses. [Archaic] ½The abusive prerogatives of his see.¸
Hallam.
3. Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage; as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow.
4. Containing abuse, or serving as the instrument of abuse; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous. ½An abusive lampoon.¸
Johnson.
5. Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating. [Obs.] ½An abusive treaty.¸
Bacon.
Syn. Ð Reproachful; scurrilous; opprobrious; insolent; insulting; injurious; offensive; reviling.
AÏbu¶siveÏly, adv. In an abusive manner; rudely; with abusive language.
AÏbu¶siveÏness, n. The quality of being abusive; rudeness of language, or violence to the person.
Pick out mirth, like stones out of thy ground,
Profaneness, filthiness, abusiveness.
Herbert.
AÏbut¶ (#), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Abutted; p. pr. & vb. n. Abutting.] [OF. abouter, aboter; cf. F. aboutir, and also abuter; a (L. ad) + OF. boter, buter, to push: cf. F. bout end, and but end, purpose.] To project; to terminate or border; to be contiguous; to meet; Ð with on, upon, or against; as, his land abuts on the road.
AÏbu¶tiÏlon (#), n. [Ar. aub?tÆl?n.] (Bot.) A genus of malvaceous plants of many species, found in the torrid and temperate zones of both continents; Ð called also Indian mallow.
AÏbut¶ment (#), n. 1. State of abutting.
2. That on or against which a body abuts or presses; as (a) (Arch.) The solid part of a pier or