A B R 
ABRIDGER, f. He that abridges; a fliortener. A 
writer of compendiums or abridgments. 
ABRIDGMENT, A- [abregement, Fr.] The epitome 
of a larger work contra&ed into a fmall compafs ; a com- 
pend ; a fummary. A diminution in general. Contrac¬ 
tion; reduction. Reffraint from any thing pleafing; con¬ 
traction of any thing enjoyed. 
Abridgment, in literature, is the art of conveying 
much fentiment in few words, and the happieff talent an au¬ 
thor can be polfeffed of. This talent is peculiarly necef- 
fary in the prefent date of literature; for many writers have 
acquired the dexterity of fpreading a few trite thoughts 
over feveral hundred pages. When an author hits upon a 
thought that pleafes him, he is apt to dwell upon it, to view 
it in different lights, to force it in improperly, or upon the 
flighted relations. Though this may be pleafant to the 
writer, it tires and vexes the reader. There is another 
great fource of diffufion in compofition. It is a capital ob¬ 
ject with an author, whatever be the fubjedt, to give vent 
to all his belt thoughts. When he finds a proper place for 
any of them he is peculiarly happy. But rather titan fa- 
crifice a thought he is fond of, he forces it in by way of 
digreffion, or fuperfluous illuftration. If none of thefe 
expedients anfwer hispurpofe, he has recourfe to the mar¬ 
gin, a very convenient apartment for all manner of pe¬ 
dantry and impertinence. Tltere is notan author, howe¬ 
ver correct, but is more or lefs faulty in this refpeft.— 
An abridg'd', however, is not fubject to thefe temptations. 
The thoughts are not his own ; he views them in a cooler 
and lefs affectionate manner; he difcovers an impropriety 
in fome, a vanity in others, and a want of utility in many. 
His bulinefs, therefore, is to retrench fuperfluities, digref- 
fions, quotations, pedantry, &c. and to lay before the pub¬ 
lic only what is really ufeful. 
Abridging is peculiary ufeful in taking the fubftanc-e of 
what is delivered by profelfors, &c. It is impollible, even 
with the affiftance of fhort-hand, to take down verbatim , 
what is faid by a public fpeaker. Befides, although it 
were practicable, fucli a talent would be of little ufe. 
Every public fpeaker has circumlocutions, redundancies, 
lumber, which deferve not to be copied. All that is real¬ 
ly ufeful may be comprehended in a fhort compafs. If 
the plan of the difcourle, and arguments employed in fup- 
port of the different branches, be taken down, you have 
the whole. Thefe you may afterwards extend in the form 
of a difcourfe drelfed in your own language. This would 
not only be a more rational employment, but would like- 
wife be an excellent method of improving young men in 
compofition; an objeCt too little attended to in all our uni- 
verfities. 
ABROACH, adv. In a pofture to run out, or yield the 
liquor contained ; properly fpoken of veffels. In a figu¬ 
rative fenfe : in a ftate to be diff'ufed or extended, in a Hate 
of fuch beginning, as promifes a progrefs : 
That man, that fits within a monarch’s heart, 
And ripens in the funfhine of his favour, 
Would he abufe the count’nance of the king,- 
Alack! what mifehiefs might be fet abroach, 
In fliadow of fuch greatnefs! Shakefpeare. 
ABROAD, adv. Without confinement; widely; at large: 
Again, the lonely fox roams far abroad , 
On fecret rapine bent, and midnight fraud; 
Now haunts the cliff, now traverfes the lawn, 
And flies the hated neighbourhood of man. Prior. 
In another country. Out of the houfe. In all directions, 
this way and that; with wide expanfion. Without, not 
within.—Bodies politic, being fubjeCt, as much as natural, 
to difl’olution by divers means, there are undoubtedly more 
Hates overthrown through difeafes bred within themfelves, 
than through violence from abroad. Hooker. 
To ABROGATE, v. a. \_abrogo , Lat.] To take away 
from a law its force ; to repeal ; to annul. 
ABROGATION,A [_abrogatio, Lat.] The aft of abro¬ 
gating ; the repeal of a law.— Abrogation Hands oppofed to 
Vol. I. No. 2. 
rogation: it is diffinguiffied from derogation , which implies 
the taking away only fome part of a law; from fabrogation, 
which denotes the adding a claufe to it; from abrogation , 
which implies the limiting or reffraining it; from difpen- 
fation, which only fets itafideina particular infiance; and 
from antiquation, which is the refuting to pafs a law. 
ABROIIANI, or Mallemolli, a kind of muffin, or 
clear white cotton cloth, brought from the Eaff Indies, 
particularly from Bengal; being in length 16 and a French 
ells, and in breadth five-eighths. 
ABROLKOS, the name of certain flielves, or banks of 
fand, about twenty leagues from the coaff of Brazil. 
ABROMA, [os and ^-co^os, no food, not fit for food ; 
in oppofition to Tkeobroma, with whiclvit ranks in the fyf- 
tem.] In botany, a genus of the polyadelphia dodecandria 
clafs, and of the natural order of colummferas. The 
generic characters are—Calyx: perianth five-leaved; leaf¬ 
let lanceolate, acute, fpreading, permanent. Corolla: 
petals five, larger than the calyx; claws obovate, arched, 
concave, obtufe, hairy at the end, ereCt, inferted at the 
bafe into the nectary; borders oval, obtufe, fpreading, 
ciliate, contracted at the bafe into very fhort, ciliate, re¬ 
curved, little claws, on which the principal claws are pla¬ 
ced. NeCtary, fhort, fmall, pitcher-fhaped, divided into 
five fegments, which are obcordate, hairy, erect, recurv¬ 
ed and arched, alternate with the claws of the petals. - 
Stamina: filaments five, membranaceous, very fmall, 
growing on the neCtary between the fegments, emarginate- 
trifid. Anthene on each filament three, twin, kidney-form. 
Piffillum : germ fubcylindrical. Styles five, fubujate, ap¬ 
proximating. Stigmas acute. Pericarpium :. capfule o- 
vate, membranaceous, veined, five-winged, five-beaked, 
five-celled, gaping at-top info five.parts between the beaks; 
partitions folded. Seeds : very many, fubovate, within an 
oblique membranaceous aril, fixed in a double ,row to the 
central edge of the partitions, which is thickened and lon¬ 
gitudinally bearded. Receptacle of the feeds, none.— Ef- 
fential Char abler. Piffils five; capfule five-celled, one- 
valved, gaping at top ; feeds fubovate, incompletely arilled. 
Species, i. Abroma auguffa, or maple-leaved abroma : 
leaves cordate or angular, ffiarply ferrulate. This is a tree, 
with a ftraight trunk, yielding a gum when cut, and filled 
with a white pith, like the elder. Some of the leaves'are 
heart-fliaped and acuminate; others, efpecially almoff all 
of the firff year, are angular, and have five or feven lobes, 
which are acute, and the anterior ones moff produced; 
they are all veined, alternate, green on both (ides, but pa¬ 
ler underneath, and the petioles are round. The whole' 
plant is covered with ffiff, whitifh, finning, decumbent, 
bridles, fcarcely vifible to the naked eye, eafily feparating, 
and flicking to the hands, but harmlefs. The peduncles 
are generally bifid, and bear two flowers. There is one 
ftipule on each fide to every petiole; but four at the divi- 
fion of the peduncles, lanceolate and acute. The flower 
nods, is elegant, but has little fmell. The corolla is of a 
dark purple. The time of flowering is from June to Oc¬ 
tober. In September and Odtober the fruit ripens, and 
the peduncle is erect. It is a native of New South-Wales, 
and the Philippine iflands; and was brought into England 
about the year 1770. 
2. AbromaWheleri, or Wheeler’s abroma : leavesovate- 
lanceolate acuminate flightly toothed. This is a ffirub 
with a brown bark; the extreme branches tomentofe. 
Leaves alternate, fome having a few teeth about the edge, 
others entire ; the nerves are tomentofe. Peduncles op- 
polite to the leaves, having one joint curved back and 
woody when bearing fruit: they have aninvolucrum con¬ 
fiding of feveral lanceolate deciduous leaflets. The flow¬ 
ers are of a dufky purple colour. Nedtary b'earded on 
each fide with parallel hairs; the inner one confiding of ob¬ 
cordate fcales. Antherre in threes, fitting in the'finufes 
between the divifions or fcales of the inner nedtary. Cap¬ 
fule large, with five membranaceous valves. Receptacle 
five-parted, bearded, faflened to the futures of the valves. 
Seeds ovate, dark-cdloured, fcabrous with raifed points, 
I Native 
