abject
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ăbʹjĕkt
ipa: /ˈæbd͡ʒɛkt/
enpr: ăbʹjĕkt
ipa: /ˈæbˌd͡ʒɛkt/
Forms: form: abjects
Etymology: PIE word
 *h₂epó
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (adjective) [and other forms], from Middle French abject (modern French abject, abjet (obsolete)), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (“abandoned; cast aside”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (“to discard, throw away”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + iaciō (“to throw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)).
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Italian abiecto (obsolete), abietto
* Late Latin abiectus (“humble or poor person”, noun)
* Spanish abjecto (obsolete), abyecto
Senses: examples: text: Nevertheleſſe he thatt comfortith the abiecte⸝ comforted vs at the cõmynge of Titus.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Seconde Pistle off Paul the Apostle to the Corrinthyans vij:[6], folio ccxl, verso:
text: VVe are the Queenes abiects and muſt obey.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: For honour trauels in a ſtraight ſo narrovv, / VVhere one but goes a breaſt, keepe then the path: / […] if you giue vvay, / Or hedge aſide from the direct forth right; / Like to an entred Tyde, they all ruſh by, / And leaue you hindmoſt: / Or like a gallant Horſe falne in firſt ranke, / Lye there for pauement to the abiect, neere / Ore-run and trampled on: […]
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], column 1:
text: But in mine aduerſitie they reioyced, and gathered themſelues together: yea, the abiects gathered themſelues together againſt me, & I knew it not, they did teare me, and ceaſed not, […]
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 35:15, column 1:
text: Servants and abjects flout me; they are wittie: / Now propheſie who ſtrikes thee, is their dittie. / So they in me denie themſelves all pitie: / Was ever grief, [like mine?]
ref: [1633], George Herbert, “The Sacrifice”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 23:
text: [T]he subject of a tyrant's will / Became, worse fate, the abject of his own, / Which spurred him, like an outspent horse, to death.
ref: 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 118:
text: Hear ye the serf I bred, begin to reckon / Upon his rights and pleasure! Who am I— / Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?
ref: 1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Company; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 309:
text: Let us look then to the widely-severed ranks of an Asiatic empire.—There is first its wretched and vilified class, upon which the superincumbent structure of the social system presses so heavily as almost to crush existence; […] Shall these abjects—these victims—these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?
ref: 1832, [Isaac Taylor], “The Third Heavens”, in Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC, page 414:
text: When the powers that be say a certain group of people are inherently dangerous, whether they're Muslims or Palestinians or trans people, that's them trying to use performative speech to make that group of people impossible to listen to. We become not subjects but abjects, a problem to be managed against our will in the name of a public good that does not recognize us as part of the public.
ref: 2024 May 17, Abigail Thorn, “I Read The Most Misunderstood Philosopher in the World” (36:02 from the start), in Philosophy Tube:
synonyms: word: heanling
word: wretch
glosses: A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class.