A B R 



A B R 



has alnrlgeil liis plaint, or demand ; yet the writ ftill re- 

 mains good for the reft. The reafoii is, that fuch writs r\m 

 in general, and do not fpecify particulars. See 21 H. VIII. 

 c. 3. 



ABRINCATARUM oppiJum, m indent Geography, 

 the to\vn of the Ahr'mcata or Aliincatut, now Avranches, in 

 France, fituated on an eminence in the fouth-weft of Nor- 

 mandy, near the borders of Brittany, on the EnglilhChannel. 

 W. long. 1° 10'. N. lat. 48° 40'. 



AB RIZ AN, orAsRizGHiAN, derived from Airlz, which 

 fignifics in Perfian, a •veffel proper for powing out luater ; the 

 name of a feait obfer\'ed by tlie old Perfinns on the 13th day 

 of the month Tir, which nearly conefponds to our Septem- 

 ber, with abundance of idolatrous fupcrilitions. This hea- 

 thenifli fcfti'al was apparently prepavatoi-v' to the dtfceut of 

 the rain in thofe countries, being about the time of the au- 

 tumnal equinox, and has been partly adopted by the Maho- 

 metans. Mr. Harmer (Obfervations on Scn"pturc, vol. iii. 

 p. 10.) has availed himfclf of the practice at this feaft, to ex- 

 plain the Jewifh ceremony of pouring out water at the fcaft; 

 of tabernacles, alluded to by our Saviour, John, ch. vii. 

 After the return of the Jews from their captivity in Baby- 

 lon, Zechariah (ch. xiv. xvi. xvii.) connects attending the 

 fcaft of the tabernacles with obtaining- the rains of autumn, 

 which are of fuch confequence after the drought of a Syrian 

 fummer; and therefore (fays the ingenious writer) this rite 

 was probably then praftifed, and the pouring out of water 

 in the temple, with folemnity, as before God, underftood to 

 be a religious prognoftic of the approach of rain, or a morally 

 inftrumental and procuring caule of its fpeedy coming. 

 Might not (he adds) the returning Jews think of adding 

 fome memorial of Jehovah's being the giver of rain to that 

 ancient national folemnity that had been enjoined by Mofes, 

 to be obferved juft about the fame time of the year with that 

 of the Perfian feftival, which that people folemnly afcribcd 

 to fome deity they worfhipped, but which the Jews knew was 

 the gift of Jehovah ? 



ABROCHMENT, or Abbrochment, Abbrocamen- 

 TUM, in fome ancient /-nw-v.'riters, denotes the aft of in- 

 groffing or buying up com.modities by wholefale, before they 

 come into the open market, in order to fell them off dear by 

 retail, otherwife called foreftalling. 



ABROGATION, from the Latin ^z/to-o, I repeal, the 

 aft of abolilhing a law, by authority of the maker. 



In which fenfe the word is fynonimous with abolition, re- 

 pealing, and revocation. 



Ahrngaiion ftands oppofed to rngatlon: it is diftinguiftied 

 from derogation, which implies the taking away only fome 

 part of a law; horn, fiibrogatlon, which denotes the adding a 

 claufe to it; fi"om obrogation, which imphes the limiting or 

 reftraining it; hovn. d'J'penfatlon, which only fets it afideina 

 particular inftance; and from antiquat'wii, which is the re- 

 fufnig to pafs a law. 



ABROHANI, or MallemoIli, the name of a kind 

 of muHin, or clear white cotton cloth, brought from the 

 Eall Indies, particularly from Bengal; being in length fix- 

 teen French ells and three quarters, and in breadth five 

 eighths. 



ABROJOS, or Baxos de Bnluca, in Geography, a bank 

 formed by feveral fmall rocks and ifles, eaft of Turk's ifland. 

 W. long. 69° 40'. N. lat. 21° 5'. A deep channel of the 

 breadth of three leagues lies between this bank and the 

 illand. 



ABROKUS, in potnny, a name ufed by fome of the 



Latin writers, for the hromiis, or a-venajlerdu, the wild oat ; 



and by others for the orohiis, or bitter vetch. The Greeks 



originally ufed the word, and that not onlv for thefc two 



Vol, L 



vegefables, but in a much larger, fenfe, iindcrftanding by it 

 any herb refembling the plants cultivated for the ule of the 

 table, but not efculcnt. The Greeks and Romans had a 

 way of cxpreffing the boiling of pulfe or herbs, by words 

 fignifying the wetting of them; thus the Greeks exprtfled 

 boiled tilings by hrocha, ^i'-.yo; and the Romans by mad'ida. 

 Virgil ufes the word for the peafe, and Plautiis, for all tfcii- 

 lent things that were boiled: hence thefc baftard pcafe and 

 oats were called al/rocha, von nuidlda, not fit for boiling or 

 eating. 



ABROLHOS, in Geograpl.y, dangerous flioals about 50 

 miles from the coaft of BiT.fil, and alaout the ifland of St. 

 Barbe. S. lat. 18° 22'. ^V. long. 38= 45'. 



ABROMA, in Botany, formed of a and 0^ufM, q. d. nil ft 

 for food, is ufed in oppolltion to Theobcoma, as a ffcnvs of 

 plants belonging to the natuiid order of Columniferit, tiie Mal- 

 •vaces of Juiheu, and the 1 8th clafs oiPohadilphiaDodccandria. 

 The generic charafters are as follow : ttic calyx is a five-leaved. 

 perianthium, with lanceolate, acute, fprcading, and pennaner.t 

 leaflets ; the corolla has five petals, larger than the calyx, with 

 obovate, arched, concave, obtufe claws, hairy at the end, 

 ereft, and inferted at the bafe into the neftary ; and oval, 

 obtufe, fpreading, ciliate borders, contrafted at the bafe in- 

 to recui-vcd little clav>s, on which the chief claws are placed; 

 and a fmall pitcher-lhaped neftai-y, divided into five fcgments, 

 which are obcordate, hairy, ereft, recur\'ed, and arched ; 

 the flamhia are five membranaceous, very fmall filaments, 

 growing on the neftary between the fegments, emarginate- 

 trifid, with three anthers on each filament, that are twin and 

 kidncy-fonn ; the pijlil has a fubcylindrical germ, with five 

 fubulate ftyles, and acute ftigmas ; the psr'icarp'mm is an 

 ovate, membranaceous, five-winged, five-beaked, and five- 

 celled capfule, with folded partitions ; and the feeds are 

 numerous and fubovate, within an oblique membranaceous 

 aril, fixed in a double row to the central edge of the parti- 

 tions, which is thickened and longitudinally bearded ; and 

 without a receptacle. There are two fpecies, viz. the Maple- 

 leaved alroma, which is a tree, with a ftralght trunk, yielding 

 a gum when cut, and filled with a white pith like the elder ; 

 it flowers from June to Oftober, and its fruit ripens in Sep- 

 tember and Oftober ; it is a native of New South Wales 

 and the Philippine idands, and was introduced into Kew gar- 

 dens about 1770, and is a hot-hoiife plant, requiring great 

 heat, and much water : — and Whehr's Ahroma, fo called by 

 Koenig, in compliment to Edward \Vlieler, Efq. of the 

 Supreme Council in Bengal ; this is a fhrub with a brown 

 bark, a native of the Eaft Indies, and is not knov/n in Eu- 

 rope. Miller's Dift. by Martyn. 



ABRONO, in Botany, a naiue given by Serapion, and 

 others, to the heart-? e a; called alfo abntgi. 



ABROSTOLA, in Ancient Geography, a town in Phry- 

 gia, which, according to Ptolemy and the Peutingcrian 

 Table, is about 23 miles from Amuritim. Ccllarius, vol. ii. 

 p. 89. 



ABROTANOIDES, in Botany. See Artemisia, 

 Protea, and Seriphium. 



Abrotanoidhs, in Natural Hiflory, a name given by 

 Bauhin to the Madrepora murUata of Linnaius and 

 others. 



ABROTANUM or Abrotonum maf .See Arte- 

 misia, and Southernwood. Abrotanum fam'tna. See 

 SANTOLiNA,and Lavender-CoWot;. See alfo Eriocepha- 

 Lus and Tanacetum. 



ABROTONUM, in Anclnt Geography, a town and 

 harbour on the Meditenaneau, in the dillric^ of Syrtis 

 Parva, in Africa ; one of the three cities that formed 

 Tripoly. 



H ABRUG 



