Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB, n.²

A prefix to words of Latin origin, and a Latin preposition, as in abscond, is the Greek απ, and the Eng. of, Ger. ab, D. af, Sw. Dan. af, written in ancient Latin af. It denotes from, separating or departure.

AB, n.³

The Hebrew name of Father. [See Abba.]

AB, n.⁴

The eleventh month of the Jewish civil year, and the fifth of the ecclesiastical year, answering to a part of July, and a part of August. In the Syriac Calendar, Ab is the name of the last summer month.

AB'A-CA, n.

A plant of East India.

AB-A-CIS'CUS, n.

In ancient architecture, The square compartments of Mosaic pavements.

A'BA-CIST, n. [from abacus.]

One that casts accounts; a calculator.

A-BACK', adv. [a and back, Sax. on bæc; at, on or toward the back. See Back.]

Toward the back; on the back part; backward. In seamen's language it signifies the situation of the sails, when pressed back against the mast by the wind. Taken aback, is when the sails are carried back suddenly by the wind. Laid aback, is when the sails are purposely placed in that situation to give the ship sternway. Mariner's Dict.

AB'A-COT, n.

The cap of state, formerly used by English kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns.

A-BAC'TOR, n. [Latin from abigo, ab and ago, to drive.]

In law, one that feloniously drives away or steals a herd or numbers of cattle at once, in distinction from one that steals a sheep or two.

AB'A-CUS, n. [L. abacus, any thing flat, as a cupboard, a bench, a slate, a table or board for games; Gr. αβαξ. Usually deduced from the Oriental, אבק abak, dust, because the ancients used tables covered with dust for making figures and diagrams.]

1. Among the Romans, a cupboard or buffet.
2. An instrument to facilitate operations in arithmetic; on this are drawn lines; a counter on the lowest line, is one; on the next, ten; on the third, a hundred, &c. On the spaces, counters denote half the number of the line above. Other schemes are called by the same name. The name is also given to a table of numbers cast up, as, an abacus of addition; and by analogy, to the art of numbering, as in Knighton's Chronicon. Encyc.
3. In architecture, a table constituting the upper member or crowning of a column and its capital. It is usually square, but sometimes its sides are arched inwards. The name is also given to a concave molding on the capital of the Tuscan pedestal; and to the plinth above the boultin in the Tuscan and Doric orders. Encyc.

AB'A-CUS-HAR-MON'IC-US, n. [AB'A-CUS HAR-MON'IC-US.]

The structure and disposition of the keys of a musical instrument.

AB'A-CUS-MA-JOR, n. [AB'A-CUS MA-JOR.]

A trough used in mines to wash ore in. Encyc.

AB'A-CUS-PY-THA-GOR'IC-US, n. [AB'A-CUS PY-THA-GOR'IC-US.]

The multiplication table, invented by Pythagoras.

AB'A-DA, n.

A wild animal of Africa, of the size of a steer, or half grown colt, having two horns on its forehead and a third on the nape of the neck. Its head and tail resemble those of an ox, but it has cloven feet, like the stag. Cyc.

A-BAD'DON, n. [Heb. Ch. Syr. Sam. אבד, abad, to be lost, or destroyed, to perish.]

1. The destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit. Rev. ix.
2. The bottomless pit. Milton.

A-BAFT', adv. [or prep. Sax. eft, or æft, again. Hence efter or æfter, after, subsequent; Sax. æftan, behind in place; to which word be is prefixed – beæftan, behind, and this word is corrupted into abaft.]

A sea-term, signifying in or at the hinder part of a ship, or the parts which lie towards the stern; opposed to afore. Relatively it denotes further aft or towards the stern; as, abaft the mainmast. Abaft the beam is in that arch of the horizon which is between a line drawn at right angles with the keel, and the point to which the stern is directed. It is often contracted into aft. Mar. Dict.

AB'A-GUN, n.

The name of a fowl in Ethiopia, remarkable for its beauty and for a sort of horn, growing on its head The word signifies stately abbot. Crabbe.

A-BAIS'ANCE, n. [See OBEISANCE.]

AB-A'LIEN-ATE, v.t. [See Alienate, Alien]

To transfer the title of property from one to another – a term of the civil law – rarely or never used in common law proceedings.

AB-A'LIEN-A-TED, pp.

Transferred from one to another.

AB-A'LIEN-A-TING, ppr.

Transferring from one to another.

AB-A-LIEN-A'TION, n.

The transferring of title to property. [See Alienation.]

A-BAN'DON, n.

1. One who totally forsakes or deserts. [Obs.]
2. A relinquishment. [Not used.] Kames.

A-BAN'DON, v.t. [Fr. abandonner; Sp. and Port. abandonar It. abbandonare; said to be from ban, and donner, to give over to the ban or proscription; or from a or ab and bandum, a flag or ensign.]

1. To forsake entirely; as, to abandon a hopeless enterprise. Woe to that generation by which the testimony of God shall be abandoned. Dr. Mason.
2. To renounce and forsake; to leave with a view never to return; to desert as lost or desperate; as, to abandon a country; to abandon a cause or party.
3. To give up or resign without control, as when a person yields himself, without restraint, to a propensity; as, to abandon one's self to intemperance. Abandoned over and abandoned of, are obsolete.
4. To resign; to yield, relinquish, or give over entirely. Verus abandoned the cares of empire to his wiser colleague. Gibbon.
5. In commerce, to relinquish to insurers all claim to a ship or goods insured, as a preliminary toward recovering for a total loss. Park.

A-BAN'DON-ED, pp.

1. Wholly forsaken or deserted.
2. adj. Given up, as to a vice: hence, extremely wicked, or sinning without restraint; irreclaimably wicked.