Abstainer to Abuse
Abstainer
(Ab*stain"er) n. One who abstains; esp., one who abstains from the use of intoxicating liquors.
Abstemious
(Ab*ste"mi*ous) a. [L. abstemius; ab, abs + root of temetum intoxicating drink.]
1. Abstaining from wine. [Orig. Latin sense.]
Under his special eye
Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain.
Milton.
2. Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the
indulgence of the appetite or passions.
Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious.
Arbuthnot.
3. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation; as, an abstemious diet. Gibbon.
4. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence; as, an abstemious life. "One abstemious day." Pope.
5. Promotive of abstemiousness. [R.]
Such is the virtue of the abstemious well.
Dryden.
Abstemiousness
(Ab*ste"mi*ous*ness), n. The quality of being abstemious, temperate, or sparing in
the use of food and strong drinks. It expresses a greater degree of abstinence than temperance.
Abstention
(Ab*sten"tion) a. [F. See Abstain.] The act of abstaining; a holding aloof. Jer. Taylor.
Abstentious
(Ab*sten"tious) a. Characterized by abstinence; self-restraining. Farrar.
Absterge
(Ab*sterge) v. t. [L. abstergere, abstersum; ab, abs + tergere to wipe. Cf. F absterger.]
To make clean by wiping; to wipe away; to cleanse; hence, to purge. [R.] Quincy.
Abstergent
(Ab*ster"gent) a. [L. abstergens, p. pr. of abstergere.] Serving to cleanse, detergent.
Abstergent
(Ab*ster"gent), n. A substance used in cleansing; a detergent; as, soap is an abstergent.
Absterse
(Ab*sterse") v. t. To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
Abstersion
(Ab*ster"sion) n. [F. abstersion. See Absterge.] Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging.
The task of ablution and abstersion being performed.
Sir W. Scott.
Abstersive
(Ab*ster"sive) a. [Cf. F. abstersif. See Absterge.] Cleansing; purging. Bacon.
Abstersive
(Ab*ster"sive), n. Something cleansing.
The strong abstersive of some heroic magistrate.
Milton.
Abstersiveness
(Ab*ster"sive*ness), n. The quality of being abstersive. Fuller.
Abstinence
(Ab"sti*nence) n. [F. abstinence, L. abstinentia, fr. abstinere. See Abstain.]
1. The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an
indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically,
the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, — called also total abstinence.
The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one.
Locke.
