‖n. [ Ar. badīl, pl. abdāl, a substitute, a good, religious man, saint, fr. badala to change, substitute. ] A religious devotee or dervish in Persia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Abdera, a town in Thrace, of which place Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher, was a native. ] Given to laughter; inclined to foolish or incessant merriment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Abderita, Abderites, fr. Gr. 'Abdhri`ths. ] An inhabitant of Abdera, in Thrace. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Abderite, Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

a. Capable of being abdicated. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abdicans, p. pr. of abdicare. ] Abdicating; renouncing; -- followed by of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Monks abdicant of their orders. Whitlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abdicates. Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abdicated p. pr. & vb. n. Abdicating. ] [ L. abdicatus, p. p. of abdicare; ab + dicare to proclaim, akin to dicere to say. See Diction. ] 1. To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word abdicate was held to mean, in the case of James II., to abandon without a formal surrender. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cross-bearers abdicated their service. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To reject; to cast off. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Civil Law) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To give up; quit; vacate; relinquish; forsake; abandon; resign; renounce; desert. -- To Abdicate, Resign. Abdicate commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, “The king resigned his crown, ” sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people. -- There are other senses of resign which are not here brought into view. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abdicatio: cf. F. abdication. ] The act of abdicating; the renunciation of a high office, dignity, or trust, by its holder; commonly the voluntary renunciation of sovereign power; as, abdication of the throne, government, power, authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abdicativus. ] Causing, or implying, abdication. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abdicates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abditivus, fr. abdere to hide. ] Having the quality of hiding. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abditorium. ] A place for hiding or preserving articles of value. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abdomen (a word of uncertain etymol.): cf. F. abdomen. ] 1. (Anat.) The belly, or that part of the body between the thorax and the pelvis. Also, the cavity of the belly, which is lined by the peritoneum, and contains the stomach, bowels, and other viscera. In man, often restricted to the part between the diaphragm and the commencement of the pelvis, the remainder being called the pelvic cavity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The posterior section of the body, behind the thorax, in insects, crustaceans, and other Arthropoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; E. pl. Abdominals, L. pl. Abdominales. A fish of the group Abdominales. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abdominal. ] 1. Of or pertaining to the abdomen; ventral; as, the abdominal regions, muscles, cavity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Having abdominal fins; belonging to the Abdominales; as, abdominal fishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abdominal ring (Anat.), a fancied ringlike opening on each side of the abdomen, external and superior to the pubes; -- called also inguinal ring. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., masc. pl. ] (Zool.) A group including the greater part of fresh-water fishes, and many marine ones, having the ventral fins under the abdomen behind the pectorals. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., neut. pl. ] (Zool.) A group of cirripeds having abdominal appendages. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abdomen + Gr. skopei^n to examine. ] (Med.) Examination of the abdomen by means of a laparoscope to detect abdominal diseases. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

a. Relating to the abdomen and the thorax, or chest. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a protuberant belly; pot-bellied. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gorgonius sits, abdominous and wan,
Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 distension of the stomach area due to overweight.
Syn. -- paunchiness [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abduced p. pr. & vb. n. Abducing. ] [ L. abducere to lead away; ab + ducere to lead. See Duke, and cf. Abduct. ] To draw or conduct away; to withdraw; to draw to a different part. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If we abduce the eye unto either corner, the object will not duplicate. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a small motor nerve supplying the lateral rectus muscle of the eye.
Syn. -- abducent, abducent nerve, nervus abducens, sixth cranial nerve [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 a small motor nerve supplying the lateral rectus muscle of the eye.
Syn. -- abducent nerve, abducens, nervus abducens, sixth cranial nerve [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. 1 (physiol) drawing away from the midline of the body or from an adjacent part; -- especially of muscles adducent
Syn. -- abducting [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abducted p. pr. & vb. n. Abducting. ] [ L. abductus, p. p. of abducere. See Abduce. ] 1. To take away surreptitiously by force; to carry away (a human being) wrongfully and usually by violence; to kidnap. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw away, as a limb or other part, from its ordinary position. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. (Physiol.) drawing away from the midline of the body or from an adjacent part; -- used especially of muscles adducent
Syn. -- abducent [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. abductio: cf. F. abduction. ] 1. The act of abducing or abducting; a drawing apart; a carrying away. Roget. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) The movement which separates a limb or other part from the axis, or middle line, of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) The wrongful, and usually the forcible, carrying off of a human being; as, the abduction of a child, the abduction of an heiress. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Logic) A syllogism or form of argument in which the major is evident, but the minor is only probable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] 1. One who abducts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) A muscle which serves to draw a part out, or form the median line of the body; as, the abductor oculi, which draws the eye outward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Ladanum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. post- + abdomen. ] (Zool.) That part of a crustacean behind the cephalothorax; -- more commonly called abdomen. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pseudo- + Gr. &unr_; a rod. ] (Zool.) One of the peculiar rodlike corpuscles found in the integument of certain Turbellaria. They are filled with a soft granular substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + -oid + -al.] (Anat.) See Sagittal. [Written also rhabdoidal.] [1913 Webster]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos rod, stick + -logy: cf. F. rabdologie.] The method or art of performing arithmetical operations by means of Napier's bones. See Napier's bones. [Written also rhabdology.] [1913 Webster]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos rod + -mancy.] Divination by means of rods or wands. [Written also rhabdomancy.] Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos a rod.] 1. (Zool.) A minute smooth rodlike or fusiform structure found in the tissues of many Turbellaria. [1913 Webster]

2. (Zool.) One of the hard parts forming the ovipositor of insects. [1913 Webster]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + koi^los hollow.] (Zool.) A suborder of Turbellaria including those that have a simple cylindrical, or saclike, stomach, without an intestine. [1913 Webster]

a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Rhabdocoela. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Sagittal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + -lith.] A minute calcareous rodlike structure found both at the surface and the bottom of the ocean; -- supposed by some to be a calcareous alga. [1913 Webster]

n. Same as Rabdology. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdwma a bundle of rods, fr. "ra`bdos a rod. ] (Zool.) One of numerous minute rodlike structures formed of two or more cells situated behind the retinulae in the compound eyes of insects, etc. See Illust. under Ommatidium. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Rabdomancy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Rhabdom + -mere. ] (Zool.) One of the several parts composing a rhabdom. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + fe`rein to bear.] (Zool.) An extinct division of Hydrozoa which includes the graptolities. [1913 Webster]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_; the side.] (Zool.) A genus of marine Bryozoa in which the tubular cells have a centralchitinous axis and the tentacles are borne on a bilobed lophophore. It is the type of the order Pterobranchia, or Podostomata [1913 Webster]

n. [ Gr. "ra`bdos a rod + E. sphere.] A minute sphere composed of rhabdoliths. [1913 Webster]