Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; lessen.
  • intransitive verb To put an end to.
  • intransitive verb To make void.
  • intransitive verb To reduce for some period of time.
  • intransitive verb To fall off in degree or intensity; subside: synonym: decrease.
  • intransitive verb To become void.
  • intransitive verb To become reduced for a period of time.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See abbate.
  • To beat down; pull or batter down.
  • To deduct; subtract; withdraw from consideration.
  • To lessen; diminish; moderate: as, to abate a demand or a tax.
  • To deject; depress.
  • To deprive; curtail.
  • To deprive of; take away from.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • To reduce: as, a legacy is abated if the assets, after satisfying the debts, are not sufficient to pay it in full.
  • To destroy or remove; put an end to (a nuisance).
  • In metallurgy, to reduce to a lower temper.
  • To steep in an alkaline solution: usually shortened to bate. See bate.
  • To decrease or become less in strength or violence: as, pain abates; the storm has abated.
  • 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.
  • In the manège, to perform well a downward motion.
  • In falconry, to flutter; beat with the wings. See bate.
  • noun Abatement or decrease.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To beat down; to overthrow.
  • transitive verb 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
  • transitive verb To deduct; to omit.
  • transitive verb obsolete To blunt.
  • transitive verb obsolete To reduce in estimation; to deprive.
  • transitive verb To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away with.
  • transitive verb (Eng. Law) To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
  • transitive verb to remit it either wholly or in part.
  • intransitive verb To decrease, or become less in strength or violence.
  • intransitive verb To be defeated, or come to naught; to fall through; to fail.
  • intransitive verb (Law) to enter into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, and before the heir takes possession. See Abatement, 4.
  • noun obsolete Abatement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become less in amount or intensity
  • verb make less active or intense

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English abaten, from Old French abattre, to beat down : a-, to (from Latin ad-; see ad–) + batre, to beat; see batter.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English abaten, (borrowed) Old French abatre ("to beat down"), from Late Latin abbatto, from ab- ("away") + batto, from Latin battuere ("to beat"). Cognates: French abattre

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Examples

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  • Genius is a nuisance, and it is the duty of schools and colleges to abate it by setting genius-traps in its way.

    (Samuel Butler)

    March 21, 2008

  • The heat has abated.

    �?�위가 수그러들었다.

    The fever fellsubsided; abated; broke.

    열�?� 떨어졌다

    The cold weather has remarkably abated.

    추위가 많�?� 풀렸다

    The town abated taxes on new businesses.

    시는 신규 기업들새로운 사업�? 대해서 세금�?� �?해 주었다.

    The pain in my shoulder abated after two days.

    �?�틀 후 어깨�?� 통�?�?� 가셨다.

    The injection abated the pain.

    주사 �?�분�? 고통�?� 줄어들었다.

    March 31, 2009

  • The love has abated.

    April 25, 2010

  • So it is with the love of money, the love of power and the other maladies that affect the minds of men — you may be sure that it is when they abate and give every appearance of being cured that they are at their most dangerous.

    Seneca, "On Noise"

    October 30, 2011