abs

n. pl. (Anat.) The abductor muscles of the stomach; -- a contraction used by body-building and health enthusiasts. Used similarly to pecs and delts. [ PJC ]

n.; pl. Abscesses [ L. abscessus a going away, gathering of humors, abscess, fr. abscessus, p. p. of absedere to go away; ab, abs + cedere to go off, retire. See Cede. ] (Med.) A collection of pus or purulent matter in any tissue or organ of the body caused by infection. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

Cold abscess, (a) an abscess of slow formation, unattended with the pain and heat characteristic of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess. AS (b) an abscess produced by tubercle bacilli, called also tuberculous abscess. AS [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

n. [ L. abscessio a separation; fr. absedere. See Abscess. ] A separating; removal; also, an abscess. [ Obs. ] Gauden. Barrough. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. absindere; ab + scindere to rend, cut. See Schism. ] To cut off. [ R. ] “Two syllables . . . abscinded from the rest.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abscisio. ] See Abscission. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Abscisses See Abscissa. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; E. pl. Abscissas, L. pl. Abscissæ. [ L., fem. of abscissus, p. p. of absindere to cut of. See Abscind. ] (Geom.) One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes. When referred to two intersecting axes, one of them called the axis of abscissas, or of X, and the other the axis of ordinates, or of Y, the abscissa of the point is the distance cut off from the axis of X by a line drawn through it and parallel to the axis of Y. When a point in space is referred to three axes having a common intersection, the abscissa may be the distance measured parallel to either of them, from the point to the plane of the other two axes. Abscissas and ordinates taken together are called coördinates. -- OX or PY is the abscissa of the point P of the curve, OY or PX its ordinate, the intersecting lines OX and OY being the axes of abscissas and ordinates respectively, and the point O their origin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abscissio. See Abscind. ] 1. The act or process of cutting off. “Not to be cured without the abscission of a member.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being cut off. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Rhet.) A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly: thus, “He is a man of so much honor and candor, and of such generosity -- but I need say no more.” [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Absconded; p. pr. & vb. n. Absconding. ] [ L. abscondere to hide; ab, abs + condere to lay up; con + dăre (only in comp.) to put. Cf. Do. ] 1. To hide, withdraw, or be concealed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The marmot absconds all winter. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To depart clandestinely; to steal off and secrete one's self; -- used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid a legal process; as, an absconding debtor. [ 1913 Webster ]

That very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]