Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1st 100 Pages). Noah Webster
Ab¶aÏcist (?), n. [LL abacista, fr. abacus.] One who uses an abacus in casting accounts; a calculator.
AÏback¶ (?), adv. [Pref. aÐ + back; AS. on ? at, on, or toward the back. See Back.] 1. Toward the back or rear; backward. ½Therewith aback she started.¸
Chaucer.
2. Behind; in the rear.
Knolles.
3. (Naut.) Backward against the mast;Ðsaid of the sails when pressed by the wind.
Totten.
To be taken aback. (a) To be driven backward against the mast;Ðsaid of the sails, also of the ship when the are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited.
Dickens.
Ab¶ack (?), n. An abacus. [Obs.]
B.Jonson.
AbÏac¶tiÏnal (?), a. [L. ab + E. actinal.] (Zo”l.) Pertaining to the surface or end opposite to the mouth in a radiate animal;Ðopposed to actinal. ½The aboral or abactinal area.¸
L.Agassiz.
AbÏac¶tion (?), n. Stealing cattle on a large scale. [Obs.]
AbÏac¶tor (?), n. [L., fr. abigere to drive away; ab+agere to drive.] (Law) One who steals and drives away cattle or beasts by herds or droves. [Obs.]
ØAÏbac¶uÏlus (?), n. ; pl. Abaculi (?). [L., dim. of abacus.] (Arch.) A small tile of glass, marble, or other substance, of various colors, used in making ornamental patterns in mosaic pavements.
Fairholt.
Ab¶aÏcus (?), n.; E. pl. Abacuses ; L. pl. Abaci (?). [L. abacus, abax, ?] 1. A table or tray strewn with sand, anciently used for drawing, calculating, etc. [Obs.]
2. A calculating table or frame; an instrument for performing arithmetical calculations by balls sliding on wires, or counters in grooves, the lowest line representing units, the second line, tens, etc. It is still employed in China.
3. (Arch.) (a) The uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, immediately under the architrave. See Column. (b) A tablet, panel, or compartment in ornamented or mosaic work.
4. A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments, for holding cups, bottles, or the like; a kind of cupboard, buffet, or sideboard.
Abacus harmonicus (Mus.), an ancient diagram showing the structure and disposition of the keys of an instrument.
Crabb.
Ab¶aÏda (?), n. [Pg., the female rhinoceros.] The rhinoceros. [Obs.]
Purchas.
AÏbad¶don (?), n. [Heb. ? destruction, abyss, fr. ? to be lost, to perish.] 1. The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit; Ð the same as Apollyon and Asmodeus.
2. Hell; the bottomless pit. [Poetic]
In all her gates, Abaddon rues
Thy bold attempt.
Milton.
AÏbaft¶ (?), prep. [Pref. aÐon + OE. baft, baften, biaften, AS.?; be by + ? behind. See After, Aft, By.] (Naut.) Behind; toward the stern from; as, abaft the wheelhouse.
Abaft the beam. See under Beam.
AÏbaft¶, adv. (Naut.) Toward the stern; aft; as, to go abaft.
AÏbai¶sance (?), n. [For obeisance; confused with F. abaisser, E. abase] Obeisance. [Obs.]
Jonson.
AÏbai¶ser (?), n. Ivory black or animal charcoal.
Weale.
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AÏbaist¶ (?), p.p. Abashed; confounded; discomfited. [Obs.] Chaucer. AbÏal¶ienÏate (?), v.t. [L. abalienatus, p.p. of abalienare; ab + alienus foreign, alien. See Alien.] 1. (Civil Law) To transfer the title of from one to another; to alienate. 2. To estrange; to withdraw. [Obs.] 3. To cause alienation of (mind). Sandys. AbÏal·ienÏa¶tion (?), n. [L. abalienatio: cf. F. abalianation.] The act of abalienating; alienation; estrangement. [Obs.] ØAb·aÏlo¶ne (?), n. (Zo”l.) A univalve mollusk of the genus Haliotis. The shell is lined with motherÐofÐpearl, and used for ornamental purposes; the seaÐear. Several large species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to the rocks. AÏband¶ (?), v.t. [Contracted from abandon.] 1. To abandon. [Obs.] Enforced the kingdom to aband. Spenser. 2. To banish; to expel. [Obs.] Mir. for Mag. AÏban¶don (?), v.t. [imp. & p.p. Abandoned (?); p.pr. & vb.n. Abandoning .] [OF. abandoner, F.abandonner; a (L. ad)+bandon permission, authority, LL. bandum, bannum, public proclamation, interdiction, bannire to proclaim, summon: of Germanic origin; cf. Goth. bandwjan to show by signs, to designate OHG. banproclamation. The word meant to proclaim, put under a ban, put under control; hence, as in OE., to compel, subject, or to leave in the control of another, and hence, to give up. See Ban.] 1. To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject. [Obs.] That he might … abandon them from him. Udall. Being all this time abandoned from your bed. Shak. 2. To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely ; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on; to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender. Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned. I. Taylor. 3. Reflexively : To give (one's self) up without attempt at selfÐcontrol ; to yield (one's self) unrestrainedly ; Ð often in a bad sense. He abandoned himself … to his favorite vice. Macaulay. 4. (Mar. Law) To relinquish all claim to; Ð used when an insured person gives up to underwriters all claim to the property covered by a policy, which may remain after loss or damage by a peril insured against. Syn.Ð To give up; yield; forego; cede; surrender; resign; abdicate; quit; relinquish; renounce; desert; forsake; leave; retire; withdraw from. Ð To Abandon, Desert, Forsake. These words agree in representing a person as giving up or leaving some object, but differ as to the mode of doing it. The distinctive sense of abandon is that of giving up a thing absolutely and finally; as, to abandon one's friends, places, opinions, good or evil habits, a hopeless enterprise, a shipwrecked vessel. Abandon is more widely applicable than forsake or desert. The Latin original of desert appears to have been originally applied to the case of deserters from military service. Hence, the verb, when used of persons in the active voice, has usually or always a bad sense, implying some breach of fidelity, honor, etc., the leaving of something which the person should rightfully stand by and support; as, to desert one's colors, to desert one's post, to desert one's principles or duty. When used in the passive, the sense is not necessarily bad; as, the fields were deserted, a deserted village, deserted halls. Forsake implies the breaking off of previous habit, association, personal connection, or that the thing left had been familiar or frequented; as, to forsake old friends, to forsake the paths of rectitude, the blood forsook his cheeks. It may be used either in a good or in a bad sense. AÏban¶don, n. [F. abandon. fr. abandonner. See Abandon, v.] Abandonment; relinquishment. [Obs.] ØA·ban·don¶ (?), n. [F. See Abandon.] A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease. AÏban¶doned (?), a. 1. Forsaken, deserted. ½Your abandoned streams.¸ Thomson. 2. SelfÐabandoned, or given up to vice; extremely wicked, or sinning without restraint; irreclaimably wicked ; as, an abandoned villain. Syn.Ð Profligate; dissolute; corrupt; vicious; depraved; reprobate; wicked; unprincipled; graceless; vile. Ð Abandoned, Profligate, Reprobate. These adjectives agree in expressing the idea of great personal depravity. Profligate has reference to open and shameless immoralities, either in private life or political conduct; as, a profligate court, a profligate ministry. Abandoned is stronger, and has reference to the searing of conscience and hardening of heart produced by a man's giving himself wholly up to iniquity; as, a man of abandoned character. Reprobate describes the condition of one who has become insensible to reproof, and who is morally abandoned and lost beyond hope of recovery. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Rom. i. 28. AÏban¶donedÏly, adv. Unrestrainedly. AÏban·donÏee¶ (?), n. (Law) One to whom anything is legally abandoned. AÏban¶donÏer (?), n. One who abandons. Beau. & Fl. AÏban¶donÏment (?), n. [Cf. F. abandonnement.] 1. The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment. The abandonment of the independence of Europe. Burke. 2. (Mar. Law) The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.