\A*bate"\ ([.a]*b[=a]t"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Abated}, p.
pr. & vb. n. {Abating}.] [OF. abatre to beat down, F.
abattre, LL. abatere; ab or ad + batere, battere (popular
form for L. batuere to beat). Cf. {Bate}, {Batter}.]
1. To beat down; to overthrow. [Obs.]
         The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls.
                                               --Edw. Hall.
2. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state,
   number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to
   moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate
   pride, zeal, hope.
         His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
                                               --Deut. xxxiv.
                                               7.
3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price.
         Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds.
                                               --Fuller.
4. To blunt. [Obs.]
         To abate the edge of envy.            --Bacon.
5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.]
         She hath abated me of half my train.  --Shak.
6. (Law)
   (a) To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away
       with; as, to abate a nuisance, to abate a writ.
   (b) (Eng. Law) To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable
       to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a
       deficiency of assets.
{To abate a tax}, to remit it either wholly or in part.

\A*bate"\ ([.a]*b[=a]t"), v. i. [See {Abate}, v. t.]
1. To decrease, or become less in strength or violence; as,
   pain abates, a storm abates.
         The fury of Glengarry . . . rapidly abated.
                                               --Macaulay.
2. To be defeated, or come to naught; to fall through; to
   fail; as, a writ abates.
{To abate into a freehold}, {To abate in lands} (Law), to
   enter into a freehold after the death of the last
   possessor, and before the heir takes possession. See
   {Abatement}, 4.
Syn: To subside; decrease; intermit; decline; diminish;
     lessen.
Usage: To {Abate}, {Subside}. These words, as here compared,
       imply a coming down from some previously raised or
       excited state. Abate expresses this in respect to
       degrees, and implies a diminution of force or of
       intensity; as, the storm abates, the cold abates, the
       force of the wind abates; or, the wind abates, a fever
       abates. Subside (to settle down) has reference to a
       previous state of agitation or commotion; as, the
       waves subside after a storm, the wind subsides into a
       calm. When the words are used figuratively, the same
       distinction should be observed. If we conceive of a
       thing as having different degrees of intensity or
       strength, the word to be used is abate. Thus we say, a
       man's anger abates, the ardor of one's love abates,
       ``Winter's rage abates''. But if the image be that of
       a sinking down into quiet from preceding excitement or
       commotion, the word to be used is subside; as, the
       tumult of the people subsides, the public mind
       subsided into a calm. The same is the case with those
       emotions which are tumultuous in their nature; as, his
       passion subsides, his joy quickly subsided, his grief
       subsided into a pleasing melancholy. Yet if, in such
       cases, we were thinking of the degree of violence of
       the emotion, we might use abate; as, his joy will
       abate in the progress of time; and so in other
       instances.

\A*bate\ ([.a]*b[=a]t"), n.
Abatement. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.