ABB 
A B D 
\ 7 '' 
2 ABB 
©nee, and observes the same exactness in all 
the times. 
Abate, in law, signifies to overthrow, de- 
molish, or destroy. It is likewise used to 
denote the act of him who steps into an es- 
tate, void by the death of the last possessor, 
before the heir can enter, and by this means 
keeps him out. 
ABATELEMENT, is used for a prohi- 
bition of trade to all French merchants in 
the ports of the Levant, who will not stand 
to their bargains, or refuse to pay their 
debts. 
The abatelement is a sentence of the 
French consul, and must be taken olf before 
they can sue any person for the payment of 
their debts. 
ABATEMENT, in law, signifies the re- 
jecting a suit, on account of some fault either 
in the matter, or proceeding. Hence, plea 
in abatement is some exception alledged, 
and proved, against the plaintiff’s writ, de- 
claration, &c. and praying that the plaint 
may abate or cease ; which being granted, 
all writs in the process must begin de novo. 
Abatement is also an irregular entry 
upon houses or lands, and in this sense, is 
almost synonimous with intrusion. 
Abatement, in heraldry, a mark which 
is attached to a coat of arms, in order to 
lessen its true dignity, and point out some 
imperfection or stain in the character of the 
person who bears it. Abatements are either 
made by reversion or diminution ; the whole 
escutcheon being turned upside down, or 
another inverted one added, in the former 
ease ; and as to diminutions, they are either 
a delf, a point, a point dexter, a point cham- 
pain, a plain point, a goar sinister, or two 
gussets. 
Abatement, in commerce, is a discre- 
tionary allowance for damage of goods sold, 
for a defect of weight of measure, on account 
of bad markets, &c. 
Abatement in the customs, is an allowance 
made on the duty of damaged goods, upon 
the judgment of two merchants upon oath, 
and ascertained by a certificate from the 
surveyor and landing waiter. 
Abatis, in a military sense, is formed by 
cutting down many entire trees, the branches 
of which are turned towards the enemy, and 
designed to guard entrenchments, to cover 
the passage of a river, to block up roads, &c. 
ABATOR, in law, one who enters into a 
house or lands, void by the death of the last 
possessor, before the true heir ; and thereby 
keeps him out till he brings the writ intru- 
sione. 
ABB, in our old writers, is used for the 
yarn of a weaver’s warp ; and hence the 
wool of which it was made, had the name, of 
abb wool. 
ABBA, a Syriac term literally signifying 
father, and used as a title of respect and ho- 
nour. Slaves were not allowed the use of 
this term, which explains the meaning of 
St. Paul, Rom. viii. 15. The Jews assumed 
the name as a title of dignity : anti in many 
of the eastern churches it is the title which 
the people give to their bishops. But the 
bishops themselves bestow it particularly on 
the partriarch of Alexandria. 
ABBE', the denomination of a class of 
persons in France, who have not obtained 
any fixed settlement in the churches, but are 
expectants of one that may happen to be- 
come vacant. Their dress is that of an aca- 
demic, rather than of an ecclesiastic. 
ABBESS, the superior of a convent of 
nuns. The abbess enjoys the same privileges, 
and has the same authority over her nuns, 
that the abbots have over their monks ; spi- 
ritual functions only excepted, ot which the 
sex renders her incapable. 
ABBEY, the name of such religious 
houses as are governed by a superior, under 
the title of abbot or abbess. Abbeys differ 
in nothing from priories, except that the lat- 
ter are governed by priors, instead of abbots. 
The abbeys of England, at their dissolu- 
tion under K. Henry VIII. became lay fees : 
no less than 190 were then dissolved, of be- 
tween 200/. and 35,000/. yearly revenue, 
which at a medium amounted to 2,853,000/. 
per annum ; an immense sum in those days. 
The abbey lands before this dissolution 
were chiefly tythe free ; and these exemp- 
tions were continued to the lay possessors by 
the act 31 Hen. viii. c. 13. 
ABBOT, the superior, or governor of a 
monastry of monks erected into an abbey or 
prelacy. 
The abbots of the primitive monasteries, 
from the poverty they professed, and com- 
monly practised, had no other claim to su- 
periority or respect than what arose from 
the sanctity of their lives ; but afterwards, 
affecting not only pre-eminence over each 
other, but even to be independent of the 
bishop, there arose new species and distinc- 
tions of abbots into mitred and not mitred, 
croziered and not croziered, and oecumenical 
abbots. 
Abbots, Mitred, were those who were 
privileged to wear a mitre, and besides en- 
joyed the full episcopal jurisdiction of their 
several precincts. Among us, these were 
called abbots-sovereign, or abbots-general, 
and were lords of parliament: they were 
twenty-seven in number, besides two mitred 
priors. The unmitred abbots continued sub- 
ject to their diocesan bishop. 
Abbots, Croziered, were those entitled 
to carry a crozier, or pastoral staff. 
Abbot, Oecumenical, the same with uni- 
versal, was a title assumed among the 
Greeks, in imitation of the patriarch of Con- 
stantinople : nor have those of the Latin 
church been backward in this respect ; some 
having called themselves abbas abbatum, or 
the abbot of abbots ; and others assumed the 
title of cardinal-abbot. 
Abbots, however, are chiefly distinguish- 
ed, at present, into regular and commenda- 
tory ; the former being real monks or reli- 
gious, and the latter only seculars or lay- 
men. These last, notwithstanding that the 
term commendam seems to signify the con- 
trary, have the perpetual enjoyment of the 
fruits of their abbeys. Antiently the cere- 
mony of creating an abbot consisted in cloth- 
ing him with the habit called cuculla, or 
cowl ; putting the pastoral staff into his 
hand, and the shoes called pedales, on his 
feet ; but at present, it is only a simple bene- 
diction, improperly called, by some, con- 
secration. 
Abbot is also a title given to others beside 
the superiors of monasteries : thus bishops, 
whose sees were formerly abbeys, are called 
abbots ; as are the superiors of some congre- 
gations of regular canons, particularly that of 
St. Genevieve at Paris, and among the Ge- 
noese the chief magistrate of their republic - 
formerly bore the title of abbot of the people. 
It was likewise usual, about the time of 
Charlemagne, for several lords to assume 
the title of count-abbots, abba-comites ; and 
that for no other reason, but because the 
superintendency of certain abbeys was com- 
mitted to them. 
ABBREVIATE of adjudication, in Scotch 
law, is an abstract or abridgement of a de- 
cree which is recorded in a register kept for 
that purpose. 
ABBREVIATION, is a contraction of a 
word or passage, made by dropping some 
letters, or by substituting marks or charac- 
ters hi their place. Abbreviations are em- 
ployed in language three ways ; in terms, in 
sorts of words, and in construction. Law- 
yers, physicians, chemists, &c. use many 
abbreviations. 
Abbreviation of fractions, isthereduc- 
OA Q O 
tion of them to lower terms thus, . — = __L 
and 9abx 3ax 36 12 j ’ 
3 be c~ 
ABBREVIATORS, a college of 72 per- 
sons in the chancery of Rome, whose busi- 
ness, according to Champ ini, is to draw up 
the pope’s briefs, and reduce the petitions 
granted by him into proper form. 
The abbreviators are divided into two 
parts, or ranks ; the one called abbreviatorcs 
de parco major e, who are twelve in number, 
and all prelates; the other abbreviatorcs de 
parco minor e, called also examinutorcs, who 
may be all lay-men. 
ABBREL VOIR, in masonry, certain in- 
dentures made with a hammer, in the joints 
and beds of stones, in order that the mortar 
being received into these, may bind them 
the more firmly together. 
ABC ED ARY, Abcedarian, or Abe- 
cedarian, an epithet given to compositions, 
the parts of which are disposed in the order 
of the letters of the alphabet: thus, we say 
abcedarian psalms, lamentations, hymns. 
These are met with chiefly among He- 
brew writers, and as the)' have but 22 letters 
in their alphabet, poems of this kind consist 
of 22 lines, or systems of lines or periods, 
and every line or period begins with each 
letter in its order. Thecxixth Psalm is a 
very remarkable instance of this kind. 
Psalms cxi. cxii. and Lam. iii. are perfectly 
alphabetical, in which every line is marked 
by its initial letter. There are others, as 
Psalms xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxlv. &c. in 
which the stanza only is distinguished. This 
was a contrivance probably intended to as- 
sist the memory, and was employed in sub- 
jects of common use, as maxims of morality 
and forms of devotion. 
ABDALS, in the Asiatic customs, a kind 
of furious enthusiasts, whose madness impels 
them frequently to run about the streets, 
and kill all they meet of a different religion 
from what they profess : this our sailors call 
running a muck, from the name of the in- 
strument, a sort of poniard. 
ABDEST, among Mahometans, a kind, of 
washing or lotion practised both by Turks 
and Persians, before prayer, entering the 
mosque, or reading the alcoran. 
ABDICATION, the act of a magistrate, 
who relinquishes or divests himself of an 
office. It differs from resignation, as tlhis 
last is done in favour of some other personi ; 
,,i 4 ; 
