Abundantly adverb In a sufficient degree; fully; amply; plentifully; in large measure.

Aburst adverb [ Prefix a- + burst .] In a bursting condition.

Abusable adjective That may be abused.

Abusage noun Abuse. [ Obsolete] Whately (1634).

Abuse transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Abused ; present participle & verbal noun Abusing .] [ French abuser ; Latin abusus , past participle 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. "Shall flight abuse your name?" Shak.

5. To violate; to ravish. Spenser.

6. To deceive; to impose on. [ Obsolete]

Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object.
Jer. Taylor.

Syn. -- To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign.

Abuse noun [ French abus , Latin abusus , from abuti . See Abuse , transitive verb ]
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. "Rejoice . . . 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. [ Obsolete]

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. -- Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult; opprobrium. -- 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.

Abuseful adjective Full of abuse; abusive. [ R.] " Abuseful names." Bp. Barlow.

Abuser noun One who abuses [ in the various senses of the verb].

Abusion noun [ Middle English abusion , abusioun , Old French abusion , from Latin abusio misuse of words, f. abuti . See Abuse , transitive verb ] Evil or corrupt usage; abuse; wrong; reproach; deception; cheat. Chaucer.

Abusive adjective [ Confer French abusif , from Latin 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] "The 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. "An abusive lampoon." Johnson.

5. Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating. [ Obsolete] "An abusive treaty." Bacon.

Syn. -- Reproachful; scurrilous; opprobrious; insolent; insulting; injurious; offensive; reviling.

Abusively adverb In an abusive manner; rudely; with abusive language.

Abusiveness noun 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.

Abut intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Abutted ; present participle & verbal noun Abutting .] [ Old French abouter , aboter ; confer French aboutir , and also abuter ; a (L. ad ) + Old French boter , buter , to push: confer French bout end, and but end, purpose.] To project; to terminate or border; to be contiguous; to meet; -- with on , upon , or against ; as, his land abuts on the road.

Abutilon noun [ Arabic aubūtīlūn .] (Botany) A genus of malvaceous plants of many species, found in the torrid and temperate zones of both continents; -- called also Indian mallow .

Abutment (ȧ*bŭt"m e nt) noun
1. State of abutting.

2. That on or against which a body abuts or presses ; as (a) (Architecture) The solid part of a pier or wall, etc., which receives the thrust or lateral pressure of an arch, vault, or strut. Gwilt. (b) (Mech.) A fixed point or surface from which resistance or reaction is obtained, as the cylinder head of a steam engine, the fulcrum of a lever, etc. (c) In breech-loading firearms, the block behind the barrel which receives the pressure due to recoil.

Abuttal noun The butting or boundary of land, particularly at the end; a headland. Spelman.

Abutter noun One who, or that which, abuts. Specifically, the owner of a contiguous estate; as, the abutters on a street or a river.

Abuzz adjective [ Prefix a- + buzz .] In a buzz; buzzing. [ Colloq.] Dickens.

Aby, Abye transitive verb & i. [ imperfect & past participle Abought ] [ Anglo-Saxon ābycgan to pay for; prefix ā- (cf. Goth. us- , German er- , orig. meaning out ) + bycgan to buy. See Buy , and confer Abide .]
1. To pay for; to suffer for; to atone for; to make amends for; to give satisfaction. [ Obsolete]

Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear.
Shak.

2. To endure; to abide. [ Obsolete]

But nought that wanteth rest can long aby .
Spenser.

Abysm noun [ Old French abisme ; French abime , Late Latin abyssimus , a superl. of Latin abyssus ; Greek .... See Abyss .] An abyss; a gulf. "The abysm of hell." Shak.

Abysmal adjective Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.

Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space.
Carlyle.

Abysmally adverb To a fathomless depth; profoundly. " Abysmally ignorant." G. Eliot.

Abyss noun [ Latin abyssus a bottomless gulf, from Greek ... bottomless; 'a priv. + ... depth, bottom.]
1. A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.

Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss .
Milton.

The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light.
Dryden.

2. Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.

The abysses of metaphysical theology.
Macaulay.

In unfathomable abysses of disgrace.
Burke.

3. (Her.) The center of an escutcheon.

» This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished. Encyc. Brit.

Abyssal adjective [ Confer Abysmal .] Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable.

Abyssal zone (Physics Geology) , one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants, etc.

Abyssinian adjective Of or pertaining to Abyssinia.

Abyssinian gold , an alloy of 90.74 parts of copper and 8.33 parts of zink. Ure.

Abyssinian noun
1. A native of Abyssinia.

2. A member of the Abyssinian Church.

Acacia noun (Antiq.) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.

Acacia noun ; plural English Acacias Latin Acaciæ [ Latin from Greek ...; orig. the name of a thorny tree found in Egypt; probably from the root ak to be sharp. See Acute .]
1. A genus of leguminous trees and shrubs. Nearly 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates.

2. (Medicine) The inspissated juice of several species of acacia; -- called also gum acacia , and gum arabic .

Acacin, Acacine noun Gum arabic.

Academe noun [ Latin academia . See Academy .] An academy. [ Poetic] Shak.

Academial adjective Academic. [ R.]

Academian noun A member of an academy, university, or college.

Academic noun
1. One holding the philosophy of Socrates and Plato; a Platonist. Hume.

2. A member of an academy, college, or university; an academician.

Academic, Academical adjective [ Latin academicus : confer French académigue . See Academy .]
1. Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato; as, the Academic sect or philosophy.

2. Belonging to an academy or other higher institution of learning; scholarly; literary or classical, in distinction from scientific. " Academic courses." Warburton. " Academical study." Berkeley.

Academically adverb In an academical manner.

Academicals noun plural The articles of dress prescribed and worn at some colleges and universities.

Academician (#; 277) noun [ French académicien . See Academy .]
1. A member of an academy, or society for promoting science, art, or literature, as of the French Academy, or the Royal Academy of arts.

2. A collegian. [ R.] Chesterfield.

Academicism noun
1. A tenet of the Academic philosophy.

2. A mannerism or mode peculiar to an academy.

Academism noun The doctrines of the Academic philosophy. [ Obsolete] Baxter.

Academist noun [ French academiste .]
1. An Academic philosopher.

2. An academician. [ Obsolete] Ray.

Academy noun ; plural Academies [ French académie , Latin academia . Confer Academe .]
1. A garden or grove near Athens (so named from the hero Academus ), where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences; hence, the school of philosophy of which Plato was head.

2. An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a college and a common school.

3. A place of training; a school. " Academies of fanaticism." Hume.

4. A society of learned men united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science; as, the French Academy ; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; academies of literature and philology.

5. A school or place of training in which some special art is taught; as, the military academy at West Point; a riding academy ; the Academy of Music.

Academy figure (Paint.) , a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model.

Acadian adjective Of or pertaining to Acadie, or Nova Scotia. " Acadian farmers." Longfellow. -- noun A native of Acadie.

Acadian epoch (Geol.) , an epoch at the beginning of the American paleozoic time, and including the oldest American rocks known to be fossiliferous. See Geology . -- Acadian owl (Zoology) , a small North American owl ( Nyctule Acadica ); the saw-whet.

Acajou noun [ French See Cashew .] (Botany) (a) The cashew tree; also, its fruit. See Cashew . (b) The mahogany tree; also, its timber.

Acaleph, Acalephan noun ; plural Acalephs Acalephans [ See Acalephæ .] (Zoology) One of the Acalephæ.

Acalephoid adjective [ Acaleph + - oid .] (Zoology) Belonging to or resembling the Acalephæ or jellyfishes.

Acalephæ noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ..., a nettle.] A group of Cœlenterata, including the Medusæ or jellyfishes, and hydroids; -- so called from the stinging power they possess. Sometimes called sea nettles .

Acalycine, Acalysinous adjective [ Greek 'a priv. + ... calyx.] (Botany) Without a calyx, or outer floral envelope.

Acanth noun Same as Acanthus .

Acantha noun [ Greek ... thorn, from ... point. See Acute .]
1. (Botany) A prickle.

2. (Zoology) A spine or prickly fin.

3. (Anat.) The vertebral column; the spinous process of a vertebra. Dunglison.

Acanthaceous adjective
1. Armed with prickles, as a plant.

2. (Botany) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the acanthus is the type.