self-aˈbuse
[self- 1 a.]
1. Self-deception. (Cf. abuse n. 4.)
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 142 My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse. |
2. Abuse or revilement of oneself.
| 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. vii. 910 Those cold humours..That..had sometimes urged To self-abuse a not ineloquent tongue. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xx. 238 He abused himself for his own selfishness. But such self-abuse [etc.]. |
3. Masturbation. Hence self-aˈbuser.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Abuse, Self-Abuse, is a Phrase used by some late Writers for the Crime of Self-Pollution. 1829 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) III. 242 The evils that haunt the worn-out debauchee, and especially the self-abuser. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 373 Eroticism and self-abuse. |