Dictionary: AB-BRE'VI-A-TED – AB-DOM'IN-AL-RING, or INGUINAL-RING

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AB-BRE'VI-A-TED, pp.

  1. Shortened; reduced in length; abridged.
  2. In botany an abbreviated perianth is shorter than the tube of the corol. – Martyn.

AB-BRE'VI-A-TING, ppr.

Shortening; contracting in length or into a smaller compass.

AB-BRE'-VI-A'TION, n.

  1. The act of shortening or contracting.
  2. A letter or a few letters used for a word; as Gen. for Genesis; U. S. A. for United States of America.
  3. The reduction of fractions to the lowest terms.

AB-BRE'VI-A-TOR, n.

One who abridges or reduces to a smaller compass.

AB-BRE'VI-A-TORS, n.

A college of seventy-two persons in the chancery of Rome, whose duty is to draw up the Pope's briefs, and reduce petitions when granted, to a due form for bulls.

AB-BRE'VI-A-TO-RY, a.

Shortening; contracting.

AB-BRE'VI-A-TURE, n.

A letter or character for shortening; an abridgment, a compend.

A-B-C, n. [A. B. C.]

The three first letters of the alphabet, used for the whole alphabet. Also a little book for teaching the elements of reading. – Shak.

AB-DAL-A'VI, n.

The Egyptian melon.

AB'DALS, n.

The name of certain fanatics in Persia, who, in excess of zeal, sometimes run into the streets, and attempt to kill all they meet who are of a different religion; and if they are slain for their madness, they think it meritorious to die, and by the vulgar are deemed martyrs. – Encyc.

AB'DE-RITE, n.

An inhabitant of Abdera, a maritime town in Thrace. Democritus is so called from being a native of the place. As he was given to laughter, foolish or incessant laughter, is called abderian. – Whitaker.

AB'DEST, n.

Purification; a Mohammedan rite.

AB'DI-CANT, a. [See Abdicate.]

Abdicating; renouncing.

AB'DI-CATE, v.i.

To renounce; to abandon; to cast off; to relinquish, as a right, power, or trust. Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he can not abdicate for the monarchy. – Burke.

AB'DI-CATE, v.t. [L. abdico; ab and dico, to dedicate, to bestow; but the literal primary sense of dico, is to send or thrust.]

  1. In a general sense, to relinquish, renounce or abandon. – Punter.
  2. To abandon an office or trust, without a formal resignation to those who conferred it, or without their consent; also to abandon a throne, without a formal surrender of the crown. – Case of King James, Blackstone.
  3. To relinquish an office before the expiration of the time of service. Case of Diocletian, Gibbon; also Case of Paul III, Coxe's Russ.
  4. To reject; to renounce; to abandon as a right. – Burke.
  5. To cast away; to renounce; as, to abdicate our mental faculties. [Unusual.] – J. P. Smith.
  6. In the civil law, to disclaim a son and expel him from the family, as a father; to disinherit during the life of the father. – Encyc.

AB'DI-CA-TED, pp.

Renounced; relinquished without a formal resignation; abandoned.

AB'DI-CA-TING, ppr.

Relinquishing without a formal resignation; abandoning.

AB-DI-CA'TION, n.

  1. The act of abdicating; the abandoning of an office or trust, without a formal surrender, or before the usual or stated time of expiration.
  2. A casting off; rejection.

AB'DI-CA-TIVE, a.

Causing or implying abdication. – Dict.

AB'DI-TIVE, a. [L. abdo, to hide; ab and do.]

Having the power or quality of hiding. [Little used.] – Dict.

AB'DI-TO-RY, n.

A place for secreting or preserving goods. – Cowel.

AB'DO-MEN, or AB-DO'MEN, n. [L. perhaps abdo and omentum.]

  1. The lower belly, or that part of the body which lies between the thorax and the bottom of the pelvis. It is lined with a membrane called peritoneum, and contains the stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, bladder and guts. It is separated from the breast internally by the diaphragm, and externally by the extremities of the ribs. On its outer surface it is divided into four regions –the epigastric, the umbilical, the hypogastric, and lumbar. – Quincy.
  2. In insects, the lower part of the animal, united to the corslet by a thread. In some species, it is covered with wings, and a case. It is divided into segments and rings, on the sides of which are small spiracles by which the insect respires. – D. Nat. Hist.

AB-DOM'IN-AL, a.

Pertaining to the lower belly.

AB-DOM'IN-AL, n. [plur. Abdominals.]

In ichthyology, the abdominals are a class or order of fish whose ventral fins are placed behind the pectoral, and which belong to the division of bony fish. The class contains nine genera – the loche, salmon, pike, argentine, atherine, mullet, flying fish, herring, and carp. – Encyc.

AB-DOM'IN-AL-RING, or INGUINAL-RING, n. [AB-DOM'IN-AL RING, or INGUINAL RING.]

An oblong tendinous ring in both groins, through which pass the spermatic cord in men, and the round ligaments of the uterus in women. – Med. Dict.