1. The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.
The abandonment of the independence of Europe.
Burke.
2. (Mar. Law) The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property
insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.
3. (Com. Law) (a) The relinquishment of a right, claim, or privilege, as to mill site, etc. (b) The voluntary
leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband, or child; desertion.
4. Careless freedom or ease; abandon. [R.] Carlyle.
Abandum
(||A*ban"dum) n. [LL. See Abandon.] (Law) Anything forfeited or confiscated.
Abanet
(Ab"a*net) n. See Abnet.
Abanga
(||A*ban"ga) n. [Name given by the negroes in the island of St. Thomas.] A West Indian palm; also
the fruit of this palm, the seeds of which are used as a remedy for diseases of the chest.
Abannation
(Ab`an*na"tion) Abannition
(Ab`an*nition) n. [LL. abannatio; ad + LL. bannire to banish.]
(Old Law) Banishment. [Obs.] Bailey.
Abarticulation
(Ab`ar*tic`u*la"tion) n. [L. ab + E. articulation : cf. F. abarticulation. See Article.] (Anat.)
Articulation, usually that kind of articulation which admits of free motion in the joint; diarthrosis. Coxe.
Abase
(A*base") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abased (a*bast"); p. pr. & vb. n. Abasing.] [F. abaisser, LL.
abassare, abbassare ; ad + bassare, fr. bassus low. See Base, a.]
1. To lower or depress; to throw or cast down; as, to abase the eye. [Archaic] Bacon.
Saying so, he abased his lance.
Shelton.
2. To cast down or reduce low or lower, as in rank, office, condition in life, or estimation of worthiness; to
depress; to humble; to degrade.
Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased.
Luke xiv. ll.
Syn. — To Abase, Debase, Degrade. These words agree in the idea of bringing down from a higher
to a lower state. Abase has reference to a bringing down in condition or feelings; as, to abase the
proud, to abase one's self before God. Debase has reference to the bringing down of a thing in purity,
or making it base. It is, therefore, always used in a bad sense, as, to debase the coin of the kingdom,
to debase the mind by vicious indulgence, to debase one's style by coarse or vulgar expressions. Degrade
has reference to a bringing down from some higher grade or from some standard. Thus, a priest is
degraded from the clerical office. When used in a moral sense, it denotes a bringing down in character
and just estimation; as, degraded by intemperance, a degrading employment, etc. "Art is degraded
when it is regarded only as a trade."
Abased
(A*based") a.
1. Lowered; humbled.
2. (Her.) [F. abaissé.] Borne lower than usual, as a fess; also, having the ends of the wings turned
downward towards the point of the shield.
