Chapter About-sledge to Absence of A by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Abrogation
(Ab`ro*ga"tion) n. [L. abrogatio, fr. abrogare: cf. F. abrogation.] The act of abrogating; repeal by authority. Hume.

Abrogative
(Ab"ro*ga*tive) a. Tending or designed to abrogate; as, an abrogative law.

Abrogator
(Ab"ro*ga`tor) n. One who repeals by authority.

Abrood
(A*brood") adv. [Pref. a- + brood.] In the act of brooding. [Obs.] Abp. Sancroft.

Abrook
(A*brook") v. t. [Pref. a- + brook, v.] To brook; to endure. [Obs.] Shak.

Abrupt
(Ab*rupt") a. [L. abruptus, p. p. of abrumpere to break off; ab + rumpere to break. See Rupture.]

1. Broken off; very steep, or craggy, as rocks, precipices, banks; precipitous; steep; as, abrupt places. "Tumbling through ricks abrupt," Thomson.

2. Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious. "The cause of your abrupt departure." Shak.

3. Having sudden transitions from one subject to another; unconnected.

The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.
B. Jonson.

4. (Bot.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off. Gray.

Syn. — Sudden; unexpected; hasty; rough; curt; unceremonious; rugged; blunt; disconnected; broken.

Abrupt
(Ab*rupt") n. [L. abruptum.] An abrupt place. [Poetic]

"Over the vast abrupt."
Milton.

Abrupt
(Ab*rupt"), v. t. To tear off or asunder. [Obs.] "Till death abrupts them." Sir T. Browne.

Abruption
(Ab*rup"tion) n. [L. abruptio, fr. abrumpere: cf. F. abruption.] A sudden breaking off; a violent separation of bodies. Woodward.

Abruptly
(Ab*rupt"ly), adv.

1. In an abrupt manner; without giving notice, or without the usual forms; suddenly.

2. Precipitously.

Abruptly pinnate (Bot.), pinnate without an odd leaflet, or other appendage, at the end. Gray.

Abruptness
(Ab*rupt"ness), n.

1. The state of being abrupt or broken; craggedness; ruggedness; steepness.

2. Suddenness; unceremonious haste or vehemence; as, abruptness of style or manner.

Abscess
(Ab"scess) n.; pl. Abscesses [L. abscessus a going away, gathering of humors, abscess, fr. abscessus, p. p. of absedere to go away; ab, abs + cedere to go off, retire. See Cede.] (Med.) A collection of pus or purulent matter in any tissue or organ of the body, the result of a morbid process.

Cold abscess, an abscess of slow formation, unattended with the pain and heat characteristic of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess.