abate
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: law
Etymology: From Middle English abaten, from Anglo-Norman abatre, from Late Latin abbattere, from Latin battere.
detailed etymology, sense derivation, and cognates
The verb is derived from Middle English abaten (“to demolish, knock down; to defeat, strike down; to strike or take down (a sail); to throw down; to bow dejectedly or submissively; to be dejected; to stop; to defeat, humiliate; to repeal (a law); to dismiss or quash (a lawsuit); to lessen, reduce; to injure, impair; to appease; to decline, grow less; to deduct, subtract; to make one’s way; attack (an enemy); (law) to enter or intrude upon (someone’s property); of a hawk: to beat or flap the wings”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman abater, abatier, abatre, abbatre, Middle French abattre, abatre, abattre, Old French abatre, abattre (“to demolish, knock down; to bring down, cut down; to lessen, reduce; to suppress; to stop; to discourage; to impoverish, ruin; to conquer; to overthrow; to kill; to remove (money) from circulation; (law) to annul”), from Late Latin abbattere (“to bring down, take down; to suppress; to debase (currency)”), from Latin ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; away from’) + Latin battere, from older battuere (“to beat, hit; to beat up; to fight”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig; to stab”)).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: abates
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: abating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: abatest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: abatedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: abates
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: abateth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: abate
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: abating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: abated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To lessen (something) in force or intensity; to moderate.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [Jupiter] whiche by his goodnes as Marcianus ſaieth, abateth the malice of Saturne. Therfore the Poets faine, that he did put his father out of his kingdome, Iſidore writeth as he abateth the malice of the euill Planets, […]
Abate thy rage ſweete knight,
 Abate thy rage.
By the oft removal of a Wild-ſtock, cutting the ends of the Roots, and diſ-branching ſomewhat of the Head at every change of place, it will greatly abate of its natural wildneſs, and in time bring forth more civil and ingenuous Fruit: […]
And it is to be noted that in the sharpest of his extreme fits he [George Herbert] would often say, 'Lord, abate my great affliction, or increase my patience; but, Lord, I repine not; I am dumb, Lord, before Thee, because Thou doest it.'
In the one period, an hundred and fifty years of peace between the two nations, the habit of being ſubjected to the ſame King, and governed by the ſame maxims, had conſiderably abated old animoſities, and prepared both people for incorporating.
To abate the force of these considerations, an enemy of free discussion may be supposed to say, that there is no necessity for mankind in general to know and understand all that can be said against or for the opinions by philosophers and theologians.
O, Blessed Bean! How often have I ate
 Whole plates of Thee, my hunger to abate!
 And thou abatedst it, Thou didst indeed,
 Thou ever over-satisfying feed!
gloss: To reduce (something) in amount or size.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Thou haſt dominion ouer their power, and when they be exalted & ſet aloft in their waies, thou abateſt their courage, and deſtroyeſt them with thy mighty arme.
And receive into thy heart the instructions that I shall give thee now, and see that thou swerve not from them, nor abatest them a jot; for if thou observest them not, or departest in aught from them, thou wilt bring damnation upon thy soul; […]
[…] Lance, after having made some shew of helping him to his horse, ran back to tell his master the joyful intelligence, that a lucky accident had abated Chiffinch's party to their own number.
gloss: To reduce (something) in amount or size.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To lower (something) in price or value.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Few words drive a bargain with Peter Eskett. I never abate one farthing of my price; but then that price never asks more than a fair profit.
gloss: To demolish or level to the ground (a building or other structure).
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: […] the kyng of Scottes […] with all hys hoſte and power entered into Englande (and threw doune pyles) the .xxij. daye of August, and planted hys ſiege before the Caſtell of Norham, and ſore abated the walles.
gloss: To give no consideration to (something); to treat as an exception.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: Abate throw at Nouum, and the whole world againe,
 Cannot picke out fiue ſuch, take each one in his vaine.
Sir, he was not Scotch; and, abating his brutality, he was a very good maſter.
gloss: To dull (an edge, point, etc.); to blunt.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
figuratively
transitive
examples: Abate the edge of traitors gracious Lord,
 That vvould reduce theſe bloudy daies againe,
 And make poore England vveepe in ſtreames of bloud, […]
Wherefore you ſhall obſerue that the more deepe, and ſober ſort of Politique perſons, in their Greatneſſe, are euer bemoaning themſelues, what a Life they lead; Chanting a Quanta patimur. Not that they feele it ſo, but onely to abate the Edge of Enuy.
gloss: To make (a writ or other legal document) void; to nullify.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to abate a writ
gloss: To put an end to (a nuisance).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She was ordered by the court to abate the nuisance.
[…] the law allows an extrajudicial remedy, yet that does not exclude the ordinary courſe of juſtice: […] I may either abate a nuſance by my own authority, or call upon the law to do it for me: […]
gloss: To dismiss or otherwise bring to an end (legal proceedings) before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
pos: verb
tags: US
transitive
gloss: To curtail or end (something); to cause to cease.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: to order restrictions to abate an emergency
gloss: To give (someone) a discount or rebate; also, to relieve (someone) of a debt.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: […] when I talk'd of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for two shillings a week, which, intent as I now was on saving money, made some difference, she bid me not think of it, for she would abate me two shillings a week for the future; so I remained with her at one shilling and sixpence as long as I staid in London.
gloss: To bring down (someone) mentally or physically; to lower (someone) in status.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: He is honoured amonge theym that be honoured, that fortune abateth without faute: and he is shamed amonge theym that be shamed, that fortune inhanceth without merite.
Rules and axioms for preserving of a Kingdom.[…]If any great person to be abated, not to deal with him by calumniation or forged matter[…]
So long as the world lived by sense, and discourses of natural reason, as they were abated with human infirmities, and not at all heightened by the Spirit and divine revelation[…]
gloss: Chiefly followed by from, of, etc.: to omit or remove (a part from a whole); to deduct, to subtract.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: We will abate this price from the total.
Peter-pence succeeded; granted by Ina, king of the West Saxons, to pope Gregory II. anno 626. It was a penny paid for every chimney that smoked in England, which in that hospitable age had few smokeless ones; […] Now, though none can tell what these amounted to, yet conjecture may be made, by descending to such proportions, which no rational man will deny. Allowing nine thousand parishes (abating the odd hundreds) in England and Wales, a hundred houses in every parish, two chimneys in every house, one with another, it ariseth unto a yearly sum of seven thousand five hundred pounds.
Three shillings and eightpence, your worship—I could not abate a penny and set forth the value honestly.
gloss: Chiefly followed by of: to deprive (someone or something of another thing).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: She hath abated me of halfe my traine,
 Lookt blacke vpon me, ſtrooke mee with her tongue
 Moſt Serpent-like vpon the very heart, […]
But O Saint! be not thou an Epicure! If delight draw thy heart, thou loſeſt ſo much in delectation, as Religion; and abateſt thy Soul ſo much of Solace, as God of Service!
gloss: To decrease in force or intensity; to subside.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: […] Plini writeth, that the crueltie of the Ramme abateth, if he bee perced in the horne neare vnto the eare. For the chiefeſt parte of his ſtrength, is in his hedd, where he is well armed to fighte.
[folio 8, verso] For Winters wrath beginnes to quell,
 And pleaſant ſpryng appeareth. […] [folio 10, recto] Gloss. […] To quell) to abate.
My fury ſhall abate,
 And I the Crownes will take.
And Moſes was an hundred and twentie yeeres olde when he died: his eye was not dimme, nor his naturall force abated.
When Winter's rage abates, when chearful Hours
 Awake the Spring, and Spring awakes the Flow'rs,
 On the green Turf thy careleſs Limbs diſplay,
 And celebrate the mighty Mother's day.
The third Day in the Morning, the Wind having abated over Night, the Sea was calm, and I ventur'd; but I am a warning Piece again to all raſh and ignorant Pilots; for no ſooner was I come to the Point, when even I was not my Boat's Length from the Shore, but I found my ſelf in a great Depth of Water, and a Current like the Sluice of a Mill: […]
CODS, or Stones swelled; a malady in horſes that comes in many ways, […] For the cure, take bole armoniac reduced to a fine powder, vinegar and whites of eggs well beaten together, and anoint the part with it daily, till the ſwelling abates: […]
[…] during the eighteen years which had elapsed since the Restoration, the hatred of Puritanism had abated, and the hatred of Popery had increased.
Counselors who support young job seekers have noticed their optimism abating. Rebecca Cassidy, who works at Georgetown University’s career center, was surprised by the relaxed attitude that students seemed to adopt toward their job searches last year.
gloss: To decrease in amount or size.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: And the waters returned from aboue the earth, going and returning: and after the end of the hundreth and fiftieth day the waters abated.
[…] the same greatness of wealth is for the most part not collected and obtained without sucking it from many, according to the received similitude of the spleen, which never swelleth but when the rest of the body pineth and abateth.
Whether fagged by the three days' running chase, and the resistance to his swimming in the knotted hamper he bore; or whether it was some latent deceitfulness and malice in him: whichever was true, the White Whale's way now began to abate, as it seemed, from the boat so rapidly nearing him once more; though indeed the whale's last start had not been so long a one as before.
gloss: To lower in price or value; (law) specifically, of a bequest in a will: to lower in value because the testator's estate is insufficient to satisfy all the bequests in full.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Bequests and legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
And in the caſe of a deficiency of aſſets, all the general legacies muſt abate proportionably, in order to pay the debts; but a ſpecific legacy (of a piece of plate, a horſe, or the like) is not to abate at all, or allow any thing by way of abatement, unleſs there be not ſufficient without it.
gloss: Of an edge, point, etc.: to become blunt or dull.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
figuratively
intransitive
examples: The third ſhild yelow, ſignifying the Barriers, and he that toucheth that ſhilde ſhalbee anſwered twelve ſtrokes at the Barriers, wyth the ſworde, edge and poynt abated.
gloss: Of a writ or other legal document: to become null and void; to cease to have effect.
pos: verb
tags: historical
intransitive
examples: The writ has abated.
But where the Writ abateth for default of the Clerk, as where it abateth for falſe Latin, or variance, or want of form, there the defendant ſhall have the benefit of a new Writ by Journeys Accompts, becauſe it was the fault of the Clerk of the Chancery, and not the fault of the defendant himſelf, […]
If a Writ of Error abates or diſcontinues by the Act and Default of the Party, a ſecond Writ of Error ſhall be no Superſedeas; otherwiſe if it abates or diſcontinues by the Act of God or the Law.
gloss: Of legal proceedings: to be dismissed or otherwise brought to an end before they are completed, especially on procedural grounds rather than on the merits.
pos: verb
tags: US
intransitive
examples: […] in actions ariſing ex contractu, by breach of promiſe and the like, where the right deſcends to the repreſentatives of the plaintiff, and thoſe of the defendant have aſſets to anſwer the demand, though the ſuits ſhall abate by the death of the parties, yet they may be revived againſt or by the executors: being indeed rather actions againſt the property than the perſon, in which the executors now have the ſame intereſt that their teſtator had before.
gloss: To give a discount or rebate; to discount, to rebate.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: To bow down; hence, to be abased or humbled.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: Chiefly followed by of: to deduct or subtract from.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: So toilsome was the road to trace,
 The guide, abating of his pace,
 Led slowly through the pass's jaws, […]
So then, weighing all things well, and myself severely, I resolved to follow my Mentor's wise counsel; neither arrogating aught, nor abating of just dues; but circulating freely, sociably, and frankly, among the gods, heroes, high-priests, kings, and gentlemen, that made up the principalities of Mardi.
Synonyms: abate
decline
die away
drop off
dwindle
ebb
fade away
fade out
fall away
fall off
gutter out
melt away
peter
peter out
slacken
slip away
spin down
subside
tail away
tail off
taper off
wane
wanse
Antonyms: build
escalate
intensen
intensify
ramp up
wax
Related words: abatis
abator
abattoir
soften
waste
wear
Derived words: abatable
abatee
abatement
abate of
abater
bate
unabated
unabatement
unabating
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: vähentää
lang: Finnish
word: alentaa
lang: Finnish
word: halventaa
lang: Finnish
word: pienentää
lang: French
word: rabattre
lang: German
word: vermindern
lang: German
word: verringern
lang: German
word: verkleinern
lang: German
word: herabsetzen
lang: Irish
word: laghdaigh
lang: Italian
word: ridurre
lang: Italian
word: calare
lang: Spanish
word: reducir
lang: Swedish
word: avta
lang: Swedish
word: minska
lang: Swedish
word: lägga sig
lang: Czech
word: zrušit
lang: Finnish
word: mitätöidä
lang: Italian
word: annullare
lang: Italian
word: estinguere
lang: Italian
word: eliminare
lang: Manx
word: lhaggee
lang: Manx
word: meeinee
lang: Swedish
word: upphäva
lang: Finnish
word: alentua
lang: Finnish
word: halventua
lang: Finnish
word: pienentyä
lang: Finnish
word: vähentyä
lang: Italian
word: ridursi