Part 4

Syn. -- Profligate; dissolute; corrupt; vicious; depraved; reprobate; wicked; unprincipled; graceless; vile. -- Abandoned, Profligate, Reprobate. These adjectives agree in expressing the idea of great personal depravity. Profligate has reference to open and shameless immoralities, either in private life or political conduct; as, a profligate court, a profligate ministry. Abandoned is stronger, and has reference to the searing of conscience and hardening of heart produced by a man's giving himself wholly up to iniquity; as, a man of abandoned character. Reprobate describes the condition of one who has become insensible to reproof, and who is morally abandoned and lost beyond hope of recovery.

God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Rom. i. 28.

A*ban"doned*ly, adv. Unrestrainedly.

A*ban`don*ee" (*bn`dn*"), n. (Law) One to whom anything is legally abandoned.

A*ban"don*er (*bn"dn*r), n. One who abandons. Beau. & Fl.

A*ban"don*ment (-ment), n. [Cf. F. abandonnement.] 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.

||A*ban"dum (*bn"dm), n. [LL. See Abandon.] (Law) Anything forfeited or confiscated.

Ab"a*net (b"*nt), n. See Abnet.

||A*ban"ga (*b"g), 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.

{ Ab`an*na"tion (b`n*n"shn), Ab`an*nition (b`n*nsh"n), } n. [LL. abannatio; ad + LL. bannire to banish.] (Old Law) Banishment. [Obs.] Bailey.

Ab`ar*tic`u*la"tion (acr/b`är*tk`*l"shn), 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.

A*base" (*bs"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abased (*bst"); 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."

A*based" (*bst"), 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.

A*bas"ed*ly (*bs"d*l), adv. Abjectly; downcastly.

A*base"ment (*bs"ment), n. [Cf. F. abaissement.] The act of abasing, humbling, or bringing low; the state of being abased or humbled; humiliation.

A*bas"er (*bs"r), n. He who, or that which, abases.

A*bash" (*bsh"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abashed (*bsht"); p. pr. & vb. n. Abashing.] [OE. abaissen, abaisshen, abashen, OF. esbahir, F. ébahir, to astonish, fr. L. ex + the interjection bah, expressing astonishment. In OE. somewhat confused with abase. Cf. Finish.] To destroy the self-possession of; to confuse or confound, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to put to shame; to disconcert; to discomfit.

Abashed, the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is. Milton.

He was a man whom no check could abash. Macaulay.