%abu%

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of United Arab Emirates. Population (2000) = 363, 432. [ PJC ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Nigeria. Population (2000) = 339, 000. [ PJC ]

n. An abnormally intense inability to make decisions; severe irresolution.
Syn. -- indecision, indecisiveness, irresolution [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. showing abnormal inability to act or make decisions
Syn. -- aboulic [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ Eth. and Ar., our father. ] The Patriarch, or head of the Abyssinian Church. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. (h)abundaunce, abundance, F. abondance, L. abundantia, fr. abundare. See Abound. ] An overflowing fullness; ample sufficiency; great plenty; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; wealth: -- strictly applicable to quantity only, but sometimes used of number. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is lamentable to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been shed with small benefit to the Christian state. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Exuberance; plenteousness; plenty; copiousness; overflow; riches; affluence; wealth. -- 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. (h)abundant, aboundant, F. abondant, fr. L. abudans, p. pr. of abundare. See Abound. ] Fully sufficient; plentiful; in copious supply; -- followed by in, rarely by with. “Abundant in goodness and truth.” Exod. xxxiv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Ample; plentiful; copious; plenteous; exuberant; overflowing; rich; teeming; profuse; bountiful; liberal. See Ample. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a sufficient degree; fully; amply; plentifully; in large measure. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + burst. ] In a bursting condition. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be abused. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Abuse. [ Obs. ] Whately (1634). [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power. Madison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Physical ill treatment; injury. “Rejoice . . . at the abuse of Falstaff.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abuse after disappeared without a struggle.. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abuse of distress (Law), a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained, by the distrainer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . tellers of news abused the general. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To dishonor. “Shall flight abuse your name?” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To violate; to ravish. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To deceive; to impose on. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of abuse; abusive. [ R. ] “Abuseful names.” Bp. Barlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abuses [ in the various senses of the verb ]. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abusif, fr. L. abusivus. ] 1. Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am . . . necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive acceptation thereof. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Given to misusing; also, full of abuses. [ Archaic ] “The abusive prerogatives of his see.” Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage; as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Containing abuse, or serving as the instrument of abuse; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous. “An abusive lampoon.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating. [ Obs. ] “An abusive treaty.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Reproachful; scurrilous; opprobrious; insolent; insulting; injurious; offensive; reviling. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an abusive manner; rudely; with abusive language. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abusive; rudeness of language, or violence to the person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pick out mirth, like stones out of thy ground,
Profaneness, filthiness, abusiveness. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

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; -- with on, upon, or against; as, his land abuts on the road. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ar. aubūtīlūn. ] (Bot.) A genus of malvaceous plants of many species, found in the torrid and temperate zones of both continents; -- called also Indian mallow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. State of abutting. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That on or against which a body abuts or presses; as (a) (Arch.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The butting or boundary of land, particularly at the end; a headland. Spelman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, abuts. Specifically, the owner of a contiguous estate; as, the abutters on a street or a river. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. a- + buzz. ] In a buzz; buzzing. [ Colloq. ] Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cup-shaped; saucer-shaped; acetabuliform. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Acetabuliferous. ] (Zool.) The division of Cephalopoda in which the arms are furnished with cup-shaped suckers, as the cuttlefishes, squids, and octopus; the Dibranchiata. See Cephalopoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acetablum a little cup + -ferous. ] Furnished with fleshy cups for adhering to bodies, as cuttlefish, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acetabulum + -form. ] (Bot.) Shaped like a shallow cup; saucer-shaped; as, an acetabuliform calyx. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., a little saucer for vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) (a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh bone. (b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body. (c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals. (d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches. (e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ See Bablah. ] (Bot.) Any one of several species of Acacia, esp. Acacia Arabica, which yelds a gum used as a substitute for true gum arabic. [ 1913 Webster ]

In place of Putney's golden gorse
The sickly babul blooms. Kipling. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ ‖ ‖ } n. [ Hind. bābū. ] A Hindu gentleman; a native clerk who writes English; also, a Hindu title equivalent to the English Mr. or Esquire. Whitworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. (cf. It. beccabunga, G. bachbunge), fr. G. bach brook + bunge, OHG. bungo, bulb. See Beck a brook. ] See Brooklime. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Cable, n. ] (Naut.) A small line made of spun yarn, to bind or worm cables, seize tackles, etc.

n. a fast-growing tropical American evergreen (Muntingia calabura) having white flowers and white fleshy edible fruit; bark yields a silky fiber used in cordage and wood is valuable for staves.
Syn. -- Jamaican cherry, calabur tree, silkwood. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. ka`rabos a horned beetle. ] (Zool.) A genus of ground beetles, including numerous species. They devour many injurious insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ ‖ } n. [ Hind. chābuk horsewhip. ] A long whip, such as is used in the East in the infliction of punishment. Balfour. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. cogitabundus. ] Full of thought; thoughtful. [ R. ] Leigh Hunt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Conciliable, n. ] An obscure ecclesiastical council; a conciliable. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Confabulated; p. pr. & vb. n. Confabulating. ] [ L. confabulatus, p. p. of confabulary, to converse together; con- + fabulary to speak, fr. fabula. See Fable. ] To talk familiarly together; to chat; to prattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

I shall not ask Jean Jaques Rousseau
If birds confabulate or no. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. confabulatio. ] Familiar talk; easy, unrestrained, unceremonious conversation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Friends' confabulations are comfortable at all times, as fire in winter. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the nature of familiar talk; in the form of a dialogue. Weever. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. constabularius an equerry. See Constable. ] Of or pertaining to constables; consisting of constables. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The collective body of constables in any town, district, or country. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A constabulary. [ Obs. ] Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ L., a cradle, earliest abode, fr. cunae cradle. ] 1. The earliest abode; original dwelling place; originals; as, the cunabula of the human race. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bibliography) The extant copies of the first or earliest printed books, or of such as were printed in the 15th century. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disabused p. pr. & vb. n. Disabusing. ] [ Pref. dis- + abuse; cf. F. désabuser. ] To set free from mistakes; to undeceive; to disengage from fallacy or deception; to set right; -- often used with of; as, to disabuse one of his illusions. [ 1913 Webster ]

To undeceive and disabuse the people. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

If men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves or artifice, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. J. Adams. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. errabundus. ] Erratic. “Errabund guesses.” Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]