abate

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; lessen. See Synonyms at decrease.
2. v. To deduct from an amount; subtract.
3. v. Law To put an end to.
4. v. Law To make void.
5. v. To fall off in degree or intensity; subside.
6. v. Law To become void.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To beat down; pull or batter down.
2. To deduct; subtract; withdraw from consideration.
3. To lessen; diminish; moderate: as, to abate a demand or a tax.
4. To deject; depress.
5. To deprive; curtail.
6. To deprive of; take away from.
7. In law: To cause to fail; extinguish: as, a cause of action for damages for a personal tort is abated by the death of either party.
8. To suspend or stop the progress of: as, where the cause of action survives the death of a party, the action may be abated until an executor or administrator can be appointed and substituted.
9. To reduce: as, a legacy is abated if the assets, after satisfying the debts, are not sufficient to pay it in full.
10. To destroy or remove; put an end to (a nuisance). A nuisance may be abated either by a public officer pursuant to the judgment of a court, or by an aggrieved person exercising his common-law right.
11. In metallurgy, to reduce to a lower temper.
12. To steep in an alkaline solution: usually shortened to bate. See bate.
13. To decrease or become less in strength or violence: as, pain abates; the storm has abated.
14. In law: To fail; come to a premature end; stop progress or diminish: as, an action or cause of action may abate by the death or marriage of a party. To enter into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, and before the heir or devisee takes possession. Blackstone.
15. In the manège, to perform well a downward motion. A horse is said to abate, or take down his curvets, when, working upon curvets, he puts both his hind feet to the ground at once, and observes the same exactness of time in all the motions.
16. In falconry, to flutter; beat with the wings. See bate. Synonyms To Abate, Subside, Intermit, decrease, decline, diminish, lessen, wane, ebb, fall away, moderate, calm. Abate, to diminish in force or intensity: as, the storm abated; “my wonder abated,” Addison. Subside, to cease from agitation or commotion; become less in quantity or amount: as, the waves subside; the excitement of the people subsided. Abate is not so complete in its effect as subside. Intermit, to abate, subside, or cease for a time.
17. n. Abatement or decrease.
18. n. See abbate.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To cut away or hammer down, in such a way as to leave a figure in relief, as a sculpture, or in metalwork.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. obsolete To beat down; to overthrow.
2. v. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; to cut short
3. v. To deduct; to omit.
4. v. obsolete To blunt.
5. v. obsolete To reduce in estimation; to deprive.
6. v. To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away with.
7. v. (Eng. Law) To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
8. v. To decrease, or become less in strength or violence.
9. v. To be defeated, or come to naught; to fall through; to fail.
10. n. obsolete Abatement.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. become less in amount or intensity
2. v. make less active or intense