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Webster 1913 Edition


Abject

Ab-ject′

(ăb-jĕkt′)
,
Verb.
T.
[From
Abject
,
Adj.
]
To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase.
[Obs.]
Donne.

Ab′ject

(ăb′jĕkt)
,
Noun.
A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway.
[Obs.]
Shall these
abjects
, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?
I. Taylor.

Webster 1828 Edition


Abject

ABJECT'

,
Verb.
T.
To throw away; to cast out. Obs.

Definition 2024


abject

abject

English

Adjective

abject (comparative abjecter or more abject, superlative abjectest or most abject)

  1. (obsolete) Rejected; cast aside. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the early 17th century.][2]
  2. Sunk to or existing in a low condition, state, or position. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
  3. Cast down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; grovelling; despicable; lacking courage; offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
    • (Can we date this quote?), Joseph Addison, Whig Examiner:
      Base and abject flatterers.
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:
      An abject liar.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I-ii:
      And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams.
    • 1931, Faulkner, Sanctuary, ii:
      He sat obediently with that tentative and abject eagerness of a man who has but one pleasure left and whom the world can reach only through one sense, for he was both blind and deaf.
  4. Showing utter hopelessness, helplessness; showing resignation; wretched. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
Usage notes
  • Nouns to which "abject" is often applied: poverty, fear, terror, submission, misery, failure, state, condition, apology, humility, servitude, manner, coward.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations

Noun

abject (plural abjects)

  1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway; outcast. [First attested from the late 15th century.][2]
    • (Can we date this quote?), Isaac Taylor, (Please provide the title of the work):
      Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?
    • circa 1591-1594, Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene I:
      We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abjecten, derived from the adjective form.[3]

Verb

abject (third-person singular simple present abjects, present participle abjecting, simple past and past participle abjected)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To cast off or out; to reject. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.][2]
    • 2001, Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco (editors), Bodies out of bounds: fatness and transgression, page 141:
      Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To cast down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.][2]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of John Donne to this entry?)
Translations
Related terms

References

  1. Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], ISBN 0550142304), page 3
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 5
  3. Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 4

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

abject m (feminine singular abjecte, masculine plural abjects, feminine plural abjectes)

  1. (literary) Worthy of utmost contempt or disgust; vile; despicable.
  2. (literary, obsolete) Of the lowest social position.

Usage notes

  • Abject lacks the idea of groveling, of moral degradation over time that is present in the English word.

Derived terms