▪ I. abater1
(əˈbeɪtə(r))
[f. abate v.1 + -er1.]
He who or that which abates, lowers, or mitigates.
| 1609 W. M. Man in the Moone sig. C1v, He [the Tobackonist, i.e. a smoker] is his owne strengths enfeebler..his appetites abater. 1683 Lady R. Russell Lett. (1773) x. 14 Time, or necessity, the ordinary abater of all violent passions. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 263 Abaters of Acrimony or Sharpness. 1839 New Monthly Mag. LVII. 538 It is not..with the remotest intention of reflecting on the abaters of the dog-cart nuisance. |
▪ II. aˈbater2
[f. abate v.1 + -er2, in imitation of misnom-er, rejoind-er, remind-er.]
An abating, a plea in abatement.
| 1660 H. More Myst. Godliness i. vi. 17 It being a great abater to our zeal and fervency in Religion to think that in the end of our life we shall be dodged and put off by a long senseless and comfortless Sleepe of the Soul under the sods of the Grave. 1662 ― Ant. agst. Ath. i. viii. 2, 22 Our fancy can shuffle in this abater, viz. that, etc. |