adj. 1. preceding all other objects or events in order, time, or importance; occurring before all other members of a series.
Syn. -- first [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. a class mail comprising letters, postcards, and other mail sealed against inspection, having a higher priority than second, third, or fourth-class mail; -- it is the highest class of mail not handled in a special manner, as is registered or priority mail.
Syn. -- first-class, first-class mail, 1st-class mail [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. coming next after the twentieth in a series
Syn. -- twenty-first [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ LL abacista, fr. abacus. ] One who uses an abacus in casting accounts; a calculator. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Abashed; confounded; discomfited. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Per. ābdast; ab water + dast hand. ] Purification by washing the hands before prayer; -- a Muslim rite. Heyse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Biol.) One who believes that life can be produced independently of antecedent. Huxley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; growth. ] (Biol.) Non-germinal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who favors the abolition of any institution, especially negro slavery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who performs or procures abortion; among medical personnel, also called an abortion provider. The word abortionist has negative connotations from the time when the practise was illegal in the United States, and the latter term is preferred among those who do not consider the procedure as morally reprehensible. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + breast. ] 1. Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, “Two men could hardly walk abreast.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) Side by side; also, opposite; over against; on a line with the vessel's beam; -- with of. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Up to a certain level or line; equally advanced; as, to keep abreast of [ or with ] the present state of science. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. At the same time; simultaneously. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Abreast therewith began a convocation. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. absistere, p. pr. absistens; ab + sistere to stand, causal of stare. ] To stand apart from; top leave off; to desist. [ Obs. ] Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A standing aloof. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who is in favor of an absolute or autocratic government. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) One who believes that it is possible to realize a cognition or concept of the absolute. Sir. W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to absolutism; arbitrary; despotic; as, absolutist principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to absolutism; absolutist. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Abstained p. pr. & vb. n. Abstaining. ] [ OE. absteynen, abstenen, OF. astenir, abstenir, F. abstenir, fr. L. abstinere, abstentum, v. t. & v. i., to keep from; ab, abs + tenere to hold. See Tenable. ] To hold one's self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To refrain; forbear; withhold; deny one's self; give up; relinquish. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To hinder; to withhold. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whether he abstain men from marrying. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abstains; esp., one who abstains from the use of intoxicating liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abstemius; ab, abs + root of temetum intoxicating drink. ] 1. Abstaining from wine. [ Orig. Latin sense. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Under his special eye
Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation; as, an abstemious diet. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence; as, an abstemious life. “One abstemious day.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Promotive of abstemiousness. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Such is the virtue of the abstemious well. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstemious, temperate, or sparing in the use of food and strong drinks. It expresses a greater degree of abstinence than temperance. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. See Abstain. ] The act of abstaining; a holding aloof. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterized by abstinence; self-restraining. Farrar. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. abstergere, abstersum; ab, abs + tergere to wipe. Cf. F absterger. ] To make clean by wiping; to wipe away; to cleanse; hence, to purge. [ R. ] Quincy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abstergens, p. pr. of abstergere. ] Serving to cleanse, detergent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A substance used in cleansing; a detergent; as, soap is an abstergent. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. abstersion. See Absterge. ] Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging. [ 1913 Webster ]

The task of ablution and abstersion being performed. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abstersif. See Absterge. ] Cleansing; purging. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Something cleansing. [ 1913 Webster ]

The strong abstersive of some heroic magistrate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstersive. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. abstinence, L. abstinentia, fr. abstinere. See Abstain. ] 1. The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also total abstinence. [ 1913 Webster ]

The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Penance, fasts, and abstinence,
To punish bodies for the soul's offense. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Abstinence. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who abstains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3d century. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With abstinence. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ As if fr. abstort, fr. L. ab, abs + tortus, p. p. of torquere to twist. ] Wrested away. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abstractus, p. p. of abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw. See Trace. ] 1. Withdraw; separate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The more abstract . . . we are from the body. Norris. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Logic) (a) Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; -- opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word. J. S. Mill. (b) Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, “reptile” is an abstract or general name. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression “abstract name” to all names which are the result of abstraction and generalization, and consequently to all general names, instead of confining it to the names of attributes. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Abstracted; absent in mind. “Abstract, as in a trance.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

An abstract idea (Metaph.), an idea separated from a complex object, or from other ideas which naturally accompany it; as the solidity of marble when contemplated apart from its color or figure. --
Abstract terms, those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of similar qualities. --
Abstract numbers (Math.), numbers used without application to things, as 6, 8, 10; but when applied to any thing, as 6 feet, 10 men, they become concrete. --
Abstract mathematics or
Pure mathematics. See Mathematics. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abstracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Abstracting. ] [ See Abstract, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To withdraw; to separate; to take away. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

The young stranger had been abstracted and silent. Blackw. Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute. Whately. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To epitomize; to abridge. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till. [ 1913 Webster ]

Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Chem.) To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To perform the process of abstraction. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I own myself able to abstract in one sense. Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Abstract, a. ] 1. That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief. [ 1913 Webster ]

An abstract of every treatise he had read. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

Man, the abstract
Of all perfection, which the workmanship
Of Heaven hath modeled. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An abstract term. [ 1913 Webster ]

The concretes “father” and “son” have, or might have, the abstracts “paternity” and “filiety.” J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Med.) A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with lactose in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

Abstract of title (Law), a document which provides a summary of the history of ownership of a parcel of real estate, including the conveyances and mortgages; also called brief of title. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]

Syn. -- Abridgment; compendium; epitome; synopsis. See Abridgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. [ 1913 Webster ]

The evil abstracted stood from his own evil. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Separated from matter; abstract; ideal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Abstract; abstruse; difficult. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind. “An abstracted scholar.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an abstracted manner; separately; with absence of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being abstracted; abstract character. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abstracts, or makes an abstract. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. abstraction. See Abstract, a. ] 1. The act of abstracting, separating, or withdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Abstraction is necessary to classification, by which things are arranged in genera and species. We separate in idea the qualities of certain objects, which are of the same kind, from others which are different, in each, and arrange the objects having the same properties in a class, or collected body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abstraction is no positive act: it is simply the negative of attention. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An idea or notion of an abstract, or theoretical nature; as, to fight for mere abstractions. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A separation from worldly objects; a recluse life; as, a hermit's abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining. [ Modern ] [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Chem.) A separation of volatile parts by the act of distillation. Nicholson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to abstraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An idealist. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Obtained from plants by distillation. [ Obs. ] Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abstractif. ] Having the power of abstracting; of an abstracting nature. “The abstractive faculty.” I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]