A — Abdominales to Abies (Part 4 of 7)

2. To support, uphold, or aid; to maintain; — in a good sense. [Obs.].

Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted.
Jer. Taylor.

3. (Law) To contribute, as an assistant or instigator, to the commission of an offense.

Syn. — To incite; instigate; set on; egg on; foment; advocate; countenance; encourage; second; uphold; aid; assist; support; sustain; back; connive at.

Abet
(A*bet") n. [OF. abet, fr. abeter.] Act of abetting; aid. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Abetment
(A*bet"ment) n. The act of abetting; as, an abetment of treason, crime, etc.

Abettal
(A*bet"tal) n. Abetment. [R.]

Abetter
(A*bet"ter, A*bet*tor) n. One who abets; an instigator of an offense or an offender.

The form abettor is the legal term and also in general use.

Syn. — Abettor, Accessory, Accomplice. These words denote different degrees of complicity in some deed or crime. An abettor is one who incites or encourages to the act, without sharing in its performance. An accessory supposes a principal offender. One who is neither the chief actor in an offense, nor present at its performance, but accedes to or becomes involved in its guilt, either by some previous or subsequent act, as of instigating, encouraging, aiding, or concealing, etc., is an accessory. An accomplice is one who participates in the commission of an offense, whether as principal or accessory. Thus in treason, there are no abettors or accessories, but all are held to be principals or accomplices.

Abevacuation
(Ab`e*vac"u*a"tion) n. [Pref. ab- + evacuation.] (Med.) A partial evacuation. Mayne.

Abeyance
(A*bey"ance) n. [OF. abeance expectation, longing; a (L. ad) + baer, beer, to gape, to look with open mouth, to expect, F. bayer, LL. badare to gape.]

1. (Law) Expectancy; condition of being undetermined.

When there is no person in existence in whom an inheritance (or a dignity) can vest, it is said to be in abeyance, that is, in expectation; the law considering it as always potentially existing, and ready to vest whenever a proper owner appears. Blackstone.

2. Suspension; temporary suppression.

Keeping the sympathies of love and admiration in a dormant state, or state of abeyance.
De Quincey.

Abeyancy
(A*bey"an*cy) n. Abeyance. [R.] Hawthorne.

Abeyant
(A*bey"ant) a. Being in a state of abeyance.

Abhal
(||Ab"hal) n. The berries of a species of cypress in the East Indies.

Abhominable
(Ab*hom"i*na*ble) a. Abominable. [A false orthography anciently used; h was foisted into various words; hence abholish, for abolish, etc.]

This is abhominable, which he [Don Armado] would call abominable.
Shak. Love's Labor's Lost, v. 1.

Abhominal
(Ab*hom`i*nal) a. [L. ab away from + homo, hominis, man.] Inhuman. [Obs.] Fuller.

Abhor
(Ab*hor") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abhorred ; p. pr. & vb. n. Abhorring.] [L. abhorrere; ab + horrere to bristle, shiver, shudder: cf. F. abhorrer. See Horrid.]