1. [n]  a person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages
2. [adj]  self-restraining; not indulging an appetite especially for food or drink; "not totally abstinent but abstemious"

ABSTINENT is a 9 letter word that starts with A.

1. \Ab"sti*nent\, a. [F. abstinent, L. abstinens, p. pr.
   of abstinere. See {Abstain}.]
   Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of
   appetite; abstemious; continent; temperate. --Beau. & Fl.
   

2. \Ab"sti*nent\, n.
   1. One who abstains.
   2. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect who appeared in France and
      Spain in the 3d century.