about 
6. At work ; astir; begin in earnest : used with 
the force of an imperative. 
Ainu/1, my bruin ! Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 
To be about, tu be astir ; he on the move ; he attending 
to one's usual duties. TO bring abOUt, to cause or, !!, -i-t : 
as, to lu-lii'i nhiiiit a reconcDlauon. To come about, tu 
come tci pass; happen. To go about, (a) Literally, to 
take a circuitous route ; hence, to devise roundaboot or 
sccn-t met h. ids of accomplishing anything; contrive ; pre 
pare ; seek the means. 
Why go ye about to kill me ? John vii. 1. 
If we look into the eyes of the youngest person, we 
sometimes ilisn.vtT that here is one who knows already 
what you would .</ <t>>nt with much pains to tench him. 
A'lN'T.S-0/l, Old Age. 
(b) Xaitt., to take a different direction, as a vessel intack- 
hi" - Much about, very nearly : as, his health is much 
about the same as yesterday. Put about, annoyed; 
distnrhecl ; provoked : as, he was much /;( iilamt liy the 
Dem. Ready about ! About ship ! orders to a crew 
to prepare I'm- tin-kind. Right about! Left about! 
(mini.), rommanils to faee or turn round half n circle, by 
the right or left, as the ease may he, so as to faee in the 
opposite direction. Tnm about, week about, etc., in 
rotation or succession ; alternately ; on each alternate oc- 
casion, week, etc. 
A woman or two, and three or four undertaker's men, 
had charge of the remains, which they watched turn 
,,h,ut. Thackeray. 
II. prep. 1. On the outside or outer surface 
of ; surrounding ; around ; all around. 
Bind them about thy neck. Prov. iii. 3. 
About her commeth all the world tohegge. 
Sir T. More, To them that trust in Fortune. 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 
Bryant, Thanatopsis. 
2. Near to in place ; close to ; at : as, about 
the door. See the adv., 4. 3. Over or upon 
different parts ; here and there ; backward and 
forward ; in various directions. 
Where lies thy pain ? All about the breast? 
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 
4. Near or on one's person ; with ; at hand. 
17 
Aliinv. is often used elllptically as a noun, meaning : (1) 
Heaven: as, "Every good gift ... is from W.-," ,his. 
1. 17. ("2) 1'reeediiii: statement, remarks, or the like : as, 
from the {(/>mv you will learn my ohject. It h:is the force 
of iiu adjective iii such phrases us tin- nlxin' particulars, in 
whieh <-it''il or iiu'iiti<nn-<l is understood. 
II. pri-p. 1. In or to a higher place than. 
Anil fowl that may fly above the earth. lieu. i. a P. 
2. Superior to in any respect : often in the 
sense of too high for, as too high in dignity or 
fancied importance ; too elevated in charac- 
ter : as, this man is abore his business, above 
mean actions. 
Doubtless, in man there is a nature found, 
Beside the senses, and above them far. 
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, ii. 
Seneca wrote largely on natural philosophy . . . solely 
because it tended to raise the mind above low cares. 
Macaulay, Lord Hyron. 
3. More in quantity or number than : as, the 
weight is abore a ton. 
He was seen of above live hundred brethren at once. 
1 Cor. xv. 6. 
Abraham-man 
listir word used in incantations. When writ- 
ten in a manner similar to that shown in the 
;ii'"<iii>|iiinyiiig diagram, so as to be read in dif- 
A 1! R A I A 1) A Ii I! A 
A Ii K A r I D A B B 
AURA C A II A 11 
A I! B A C A I) A 
A B R A C A I) 
A i: I: V i 1 A 
A 1! II A C 
AURA 
A II R 
A B 
A 
feront directions, and worn as an amulet, it was 
supposed to cure certain ailments. 
Mr. Banester salth that he healed -_'ii in one year of an 
ague by hanging abracadabra about their necks, and 
would stanch blood, or heal the toothake, although the 
partyes were 10 myle of. US. 111 ISrit. St*fwn. 
Hence 2. Any word-charm or empty jingle 
of words. 
abracalam (a-brak'a-lam), . [Cf. 
nbriica- 
charm 
4. More in degree than; in a greater degree " dabra.] A cabalistic word used as a 
than ; beyond ; in excess of. among the Jews. 
Thou [the serpent] art cursed above all cattle. abrachia (a-bra'ki-a), n. [NL., < Gr. a- priv. 
+ L. braehivm, arm.] In soot., absence of 
anterior limbs. 
ii. ; pi. abrachii (-1). 
In teratol., a monster 
Gen. iii. 14. 
will not suffer you to be tempted above that 
1 Cor. x. 13. a fo rac lu US (a-bra'ki-us), 
' 
God . . . 
ye are able. 
Above the bounds of reason. 
I heard a knocking for above an hour. 
Swift, Gull. Trav., i. 1. 
Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 7. 
see abrachia.'] 
in which the anterior limbs are absent, while 
tne pos t e rior aro we ll developed. 
Above all, above or before everything else ; before every abradant (ab-ra'dant), (I, and W. [< OF. abrn- 

, 
other consideration ; in preference to all other things. 
scrape, scraping, < L. abra- 
' Book of Riddles " 
You have not the . 
yoll 9 Shak., M. W. of W., L 1. 
5. In relation to ; respecting; in regard to; on 
account of. 
He is very courageous mad about his throwing into the 
water. Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 1. 
The onestion is not about what is there, hut about what 
I 8 ee. W. K. CK/ord, Lectures, I. 266. 
what people say. (b) Holding a secure position in life ; I. a. Abrading; 
having one's fortune made. of scraping. 
With such an income as that he should he above the JJ. n. A material used for grinding, such as 
world, as the saying is. A. Trollope. em ery, sand, powdered glass, etc. 
= Syn. Over, Above. See over. abrade (ab-rad'), r. t. ; pret. and pp. abraded, 
aboveboard (a-buv'bord),j>ren. phr. as adv. or p pr- abrading. [< L. abradere, scrape or rub 
n, < ab, off, + radere, scrape : see raze.'] To 
a. [< above +"board. "Afigurative expression, o 
6. Concerned in ; engaged in : as, what is he 
about f 
if w' HT borrowed from gamesters, who, when they put r iib or wear away ; rub or scrape off ; detach 
their hands under the table, are changing their par ticles from the surface of by friction : as, 
cards." Johnson.] In open sight; without tricks gl ac i e rs abrade the rocks over which they pass ; 
to abrade the prominences of a surface. 
Dusty red walls and abraded towers. 
Lathrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 132. 
A termination is the abraded relic of an originally dis- 
tinct qualifying word. J. Fiske, Cos. Phil., I. 66. 
_ vs -- '?, f " = Syn. Scratch, Chafe, etc. See scrape, v. t. 
fS^J^SSiS^^SSK^S^JSifffn 
multitude, orig. 'Abrdm, lit. father of height.] 
or disguise : as, an honest man deals above- 
board; his actions are open and aboveboard. 
Lovers in this age have too much honour to do anything 
underhand ; they do all aboveboard. 
Vanbrugh, Relapse, n. 1. 
S"^Se"i: above-deck (a-buv'dek), prep. phr. as ad,: or 
a. 1. 
2. Figurat_ - , 
as, his dealings are all above-deck. [Colloq.] 
I must be about my Father's business. Luke ii. 49. above-gTOUnd (a-buv'ground), prep. phr. as QfTr pertaining to the patriarch Abraham': as, 
To go set about, to become occupied with; engage ado. or a. Alive; not buried. the jirafcnwte Covenant. 
I'll have 'em, an they he above-ffromid. AKraliamiila. CS-brn-ham'i-de 1 ). n. pi. [NL., 
in ; undertake ; begin : as, go about your business ; he set 
about the performance of his task. 
about-sledge (a-bout'slej),w. [< 6o (in refer- ab OVQ (ab - v6) . [L . 
ence to its being swung around) + sledye i .] f rom - ovo a bl. of ovum, e 
from the egg: 
, ovum: see 
ab. 
j * o ' . j iroiii i utu. aui. ui wunt, ' :^:^, WTIM*< o* .*.j 
The largest hammer used by blacksmiths. 1 Literally, from the egg; hence, from the very 
is grasped at the end of the handle with both b e gi nn i n g ) generally with allusion to the Roman 
hands and swung at arm's length. 
above (a-buv'), adv. and prep. [< ME. above, 
aboren,abuvc, abuven, abufenC) E. dial, and Sc. 
aboon, abune, q. v.), < AS. dbtifan, above, < a- 
for on + bufan (full form betifan = OS. biobhan 
= D. boven), above, < be-, by, + ufan, from 
above, above. = OS. obhana, from above, obhan, 
custom of beginning a meal with eggs. In 
case it is the first part of the phrase ab ovo usque ad m 
i this 
j phrase ab ovo 'iwque ad mala, 
that is, from beginning to end ; 
is to the poet who began the Abranamite 
history of the Trojan war with the story of the egg from 
which Helen was fabled to have heen born. 
Chances. Abrahamidse (a-bra-ham'i-de), 
< Abraham + -i*r.] The descendants of Abra- 
ham ; the Hebrews. 
This [Biblical] revelation of origins . . . was a whole 
system of religion pure and elevating, . . . placing the 
Abrahamidce, who' for ages seem alone to have held to it, 
on a plane of spiritual vantage immeasurably above that 
of other nations. Damon, Orig. of World, p. 71. 
(a'bra-ham-It or a'bram-it), n. 
..mite, "pi."; as Abraliam + -tte 2 .] 
1. One of a Christian sect named from its 
By way of tracing the whole theme [the Homeric con- founder, Abraham of Antioch (ninth century), 
above, above, = OS. obhana, trom above, oohan, troversv] ab suppose we begin by stating the chrono- an( j c harged with Paulician (Gnostic) errors. 
above, = OHG. opana, obanii, MHtr. (i. often, logical bearings of the principal objects . . . connected _ ^ & gec( . Q j Tj e i s t s j n Bohemia, who 
a base appearing in 
MHG. 
with the Iliad. 
De Quincey, Homer, i. 
2. One of a sect of Deists in Bohemia, who 
came into prominence about 1782, and were 
banished to Hungary by the Emperor Joseph II. 
for nonconformity. They seem to have professed 
the religion of Abraham before his circumcision, to have 
believed in God, the immortality of the soul, and a future 
state of rewards and punishments, but to have rejected 
baptism and the doctrine of the Trinity, and to have ac- 
knowledged no scripture but the decalogue and the Lords 
prayer. 
Abrahamitical (a'bra-ham-it'i-kal or a-bram- 
it'i-kal), . Relating to Abraham or to the 
Abranamites. 
Abraham-man (a'bra-ham- or a'bram-man), 
n. 1. Originally, a mendicant lunatic from 
Bethlehem Hospital, London. The wards in the 
ancient Bedlam (Bethlehem) bore distinctive names, as of 
some saint or patriarch. That named after Abraham 
was devoted to a class of lunatics who on certain days 
were permitted to go out begging. They bore a badge, 
and were known as Abraham-men, Many, however, as- 
sumed the badge without right, and begged, feigning 
o- VTCU., T- ix/*-.j .Lium.., in v.i ..vv, *,~ V va,w.. lunacy. Hence the more received meaning came to be 
as, from what has been said above. 5. Be- o f the yards of a vessel when the head-sails are 2. An impostor who wandered^ M>ut^ the 
sides : in the expression orcr and abore. 
And stand indebted, over and above, 
In love and service to you evermore. 
N/mA-., M. of V., iv. 1 
[Shakspere has more above in the same sense. 
This, in obedience, hath my daughter showed me ; 
And tuorr. nlmw, bath his solicitings . . . 
All given to mine ear. Hamlet, n. -l.\ 
1 
= Icel. of an; all from 
Goth, nf, prep., under, OHG. opa, aba, 
obe, ob, adv. and prep., over, Icel. of, prep., 
over, for. A different form of the same base 
appears in up, q. v. See also orer.] I. adv. 
1. In or to a higher place ; overhead ; often, 
in a special sense : (a) In or to the celestial 
regions ; in heaven. 
Your praise the birds shall chant in every grove, 
And winds shall waft it to the powers above. 
Pope, Summer, 1. 80. 
(6) Upstairs. 
My maid's aunt . . . has a gown above. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. I. 
2. On the upper side (opposed to beneath) ; 
toward the top (opposed to below) : as, leaves 
green aboi'e, glaucous beneath ; stems smooth 
abore, hairy below. 3. Higher in rank or 
power: as, the courts above. 4. Before in 
Bnrk with Yards Abox. 
p , . . aox (a-boks'), prep. phr. as adr. or a. [< a 3 , 
rank or order, especially in a book or writ-ing : prep., 4- box 2 .} Naut., in or into the position 
laid aback: applied to the head-yards only, the country seeking alms, under pretense of lu- 
Other sails being kept full. nacy. Hence the phrase to sham Abraham, to feign 
abD A contraction of archbishop. sickness. 
S^^SV-i;,^ K?rSS5lr; ;;; i!HE' 
(J. Screnus Sammonious. ID the second een- Aa, n had been very distinctly audible. 
tury; mere jargon. Cf. ahnn-alam.'] 1. Acaba- Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxxni. 
