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v. t. [ LL. abacinatus, p. p. of abacinare; ab off + bacinus a basin. ] To blind by a red-hot metal plate held before the eyes. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of abacinating. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Gr. 'abaki`skos, dim of 'a`bax. See Abacus. ] (Arch.) One of the tiles or squares of a tessellated pavement; an abaculus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL abacista, fr. abacus. ] One who uses an abacus in casting accounts; a calculator. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + back; AS. on bæc at, on, or toward the back. See Back. ] 1. Toward the back or rear; backward. “Therewith aback she started.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behind; in the rear. Knolles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) Backward against the mast; -- said of the sails when pressed by the wind. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be taken aback. (a) To be driven backward against the mast; -- said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An abacus. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ab + E. actinal. ] (Zool.) Pertaining to the surface or end opposite to the mouth in a radiate animal; -- opposed to actinal. “The aboral or abactinal area.” L. Agassiz. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Stealing cattle on a large scale. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; E. pl. Abacuses ; L. pl. Abaci [ L. abacus, abax, Gr. 'a`bax ] 1. A table or tray strewn with sand, anciently used for drawing, calculating, etc. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A board, tray, or table, divided into perforated compartments, for holding cups, bottles, or the like; a kind of cupboard, buffet, or sideboard. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abacus harmonicus (Mus.), an ancient diagram showing the structure and disposition of the keys of an instrument. Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Abbacies [ L. abbatia, fr. abbas, abbatis, abbot. See Abbey. ] The dignity, estate, or jurisdiction of an abbot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to the abdomen and the thorax, or chest. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. ab- + evacuation. ] (Med.) A partial evacuation. Mayne. AS [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. ablactatus, p. p. of ablactare; ab + lactare to suckle, fr. lac milk. ] To wean. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The weaning of a child from the breast, or of young beasts from their dam. Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Hort.) The process of grafting now called inarching, or grafting by approach. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abortus (see Abort, v.) + faciens, p. pr. of facere to make. ] Producing miscarriage. -- n. A drug or an agent that causes premature delivery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Of unknown origin. ] A mystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. ab- + reaction, after G. Abreagirung. ] (Psychotherapy) the purging of emotional tensions. See Catharsis, below.
Syn. -- catharsis, katharsis [ Webster 1913 Suppl. WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ OE. abrochen, OF. abrochier. See Broach. ] To set abroach; to let out, as liquor; to broach; to tap. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + broach. ] 1. Broached; in a condition for letting out or yielding liquor, as a cask which is tapped. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hogsheads of ale were set abroach. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: In a state to be diffused or propagated; afoot; astir. “Mischiefs that I set abroach.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 inducing or promoting absorption
Syn. -- sorbefacient [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. abstractus, p. p. of abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw. See Trace. ] 1. Withdraw; separate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The more abstract . . . we are from the body. Norris. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Logic) (a) Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; -- opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word. J. S. Mill. (b) Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, “reptile” is an abstract or general name. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression “abstract name” to all names which are the result of abstraction and generalization, and consequently to all general names, instead of confining it to the names of attributes. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Abstracted; absent in mind. “Abstract, as in a trance.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

An abstract idea (Metaph.), an idea separated from a complex object, or from other ideas which naturally accompany it; as the solidity of marble when contemplated apart from its color or figure. --
Abstract terms, those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of similar qualities. --
Abstract numbers (Math.), numbers used without application to things, as 6, 8, 10; but when applied to any thing, as 6 feet, 10 men, they become concrete. --
Abstract mathematics or
Pure mathematics. See Mathematics. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abstracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Abstracting. ] [ See Abstract, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To withdraw; to separate; to take away. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

The young stranger had been abstracted and silent. Blackw. Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute. Whately. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To epitomize; to abridge. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till. [ 1913 Webster ]

Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Chem.) To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To perform the process of abstraction. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I own myself able to abstract in one sense. Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Abstract, a. ] 1. That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief. [ 1913 Webster ]

An abstract of every treatise he had read. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

Man, the abstract
Of all perfection, which the workmanship
Of Heaven hath modeled. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An abstract term. [ 1913 Webster ]

The concretes “father” and “son” have, or might have, the abstracts “paternity” and “filiety.” J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Med.) A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with lactose in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

Abstract of title (Law), a document which provides a summary of the history of ownership of a parcel of real estate, including the conveyances and mortgages; also called brief of title. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

Syn. -- Abridgment; compendium; epitome; synopsis. See Abridgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. [ 1913 Webster ]

The evil abstracted stood from his own evil. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Separated from matter; abstract; ideal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Abstract; abstruse; difficult. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind. “An abstracted scholar.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an abstracted manner; separately; with absence of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being abstracted; abstract character. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abstracts, or makes an abstract. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. abstraction. See Abstract, a. ] 1. The act of abstracting, separating, or withdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Abstraction is necessary to classification, by which things are arranged in genera and species. We separate in idea the qualities of certain objects, which are of the same kind, from others which are different, in each, and arrange the objects having the same properties in a class, or collected body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abstraction is no positive act: it is simply the negative of attention. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An idea or notion of an abstract, or theoretical nature; as, to fight for mere abstractions. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A separation from worldly objects; a recluse life; as, a hermit's abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining. [ Modern ] [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Chem.) A separation of volatile parts by the act of distillation. Nicholson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An idealist. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Obtained from plants by distillation. [ Obs. ] Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abstractif. ] Having the power of abstracting; of an abstracting nature. “The abstractive faculty.” I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a abstract manner; separately; in or by itself. Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstractive; abstractive property. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an abstract state or manner; separately; absolutely; by itself; as, matter abstractly considered. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstract. “The abstractness of the ideas.” Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Acronym from alternating current. ] an electric current that reverses direction sinusoidally. Alternative to direct curent, DC. [ acron. ]
Syn. -- alternating current [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. the chemical symbol for actinum, a radioactive element.
Syn. -- actinium [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Antiq.) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. E. acacias L. acaciae [ L. from Gr. 'akaki`a; orig. the name of a thorny tree found in Egypt; prob. fr. the root ak to be sharp. See Acute. ] 1. [ capitalized ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) The inspissated juice of several species of acacia; -- called also gum acacia, and gum arabic. AS [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Gum arabic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. academia. See Academy. ] An academy. [ Poetic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Academic. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A member of an academy, university, or college. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One holding the philosophy of Socrates and Plato; a Platonist. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A member of an academy, college, or university; an academician. [ 1913 Webster ]