a. Capable of being abated; as, an abatable writ or nuisance. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abated, p. pr. & vb. n. Abating. ] [ OF. abatre to beat down, F. abattre, LL. abatere; ab or ad + batere, battere (popular form for L. batuere to beat). Cf. Bate, Batter. ] 1. To beat down; to overthrow. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls. Edw. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deut. xxxiv. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To blunt. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To abate the edge of envy. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She hath abated me of half my train. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To abate a tax, to remit it either wholly or in part. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ See Abate, v. t. ] 1. To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as, pain abates, a storm abates. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fury of Glengarry . . . rapidly abated. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be defeated, or come to naught; to fall through; to fail; as, a writ abates. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Abatement. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. abatement, F. abattement. ] 1. The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; removal or putting an end to; as, the abatement of a nuisance is the suppression thereof. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The amount abated; that which is taken away by way of reduction; deduction; decrease; a rebate or discount allowed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Her.) A mark of dishonor on an escutcheon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) The entry of a stranger, without right, into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, before the heir or devisee. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Defense in abatement,
Plea in abatement, (Law), plea to the effect that from some formal defect (e.g. misnomer, lack of jurisdiction) the proceedings should be abated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, abates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Provided with an abatis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) (a) One who abates a nuisance. (b) A person who, without right, enters into a freehold on the death of the last possessor, before the heir or devisee. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } pos>n. [ F. abatis, abattis, mass of things beaten or cut down, fr. abattre. See Abate. ] (Fort.) A means of defense formed by felled trees, the ends of whose branches are sharpened and directed outwards, or against the enemy. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Abattoirs [ F., fr. abattre to beat down. See Abate. ] A public slaughterhouse for cattle, sheep, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. abatture, fr. abattre. See Abate. ] Grass and sprigs beaten or trampled down by a stag passing through them. Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. abattre to beat down + voix voice. ] The sounding-board over a pulpit or rostrum. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'adia`batos not passable; 'a priv. + dia` through + bai`nein to go. ] (Physics) Not giving out or receiving heat. -- Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly, adv. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

☞The adiabatic expansion of carbon dioxide from a compressed container causes the temperature of the gas to decrease rapidly below its freezing point, resulting in the familiar carbon dioxide “snow” emitted by carbon dioxide fire extinguishers. [ PJC. ]

Adiabatic line or
curve, a curve exhibiting the variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it expands without either receiving or giving out heat. Rankine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;. ] Pertaining to anabasis; as, an anabatic fever. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. andabata a kind of Roman gladiator, who fought hoodwinked. ] Doubt; uncertainty. [ Obs. ] Shelford. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Turkmenistan. Population (2000) = 518, 000. [ PJC ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; &unr_; (sc. &unr_;) offerings before crossing the border, fr. &unr_; to pass over. See Diabase. ] Passing over the borders. [ R. ] Mitford. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Physics) involving a transfer of heat. a diabatic process adiabatic [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Iso- + Gr. &unr_; to pass through. ] (Physics) Pertaining to the reception or the giving out of equal quantities of heat by a substance. Rankine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Isodiabatic lines or
Isodiabatic curves, a pair of lines or curves exhibiting, on a diagram of energy, the law of variation of the pressure and density of a fluid, the one during the lowering, and the other during the raising, of its temperature, when the quantity of heat given out by the fluid during any given stage of the one process is equal to the quantity received during the corresponding stage of the other. Such lines are said to be isodiabatic with respect to each other. Compare Adiabatic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Rabot. ] A polishing material made of potter's clay that has failed in baking. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. Cf. Rabato. ] (Eccl.) (a) A clerical linen collar. (b) A kind of clerical scarf fitted to a collar; as, a black silk rabat. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ F. rabattre to beat down; pref. re- + abattre. See Abate, and cf. Rebate, v. ] (Falconry) To recover to the fist, as a hawk. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Rabato. ] A collar or cape. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. rabat, fr. rabattre. See Rabate. ] A kind of ruff for the neck; a turned-down collar; a rebato. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L., the mother was standing. ] A celebrated Latin hymn, beginning with these words, commemorating the sorrows of the mother of our Lord at the foot of the cross. It is read in the Mass of the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, and is sung by Catholics when making “the way of the cross” (Via Crucis). See Station, 7 (c). [ 1913 Webster ]