absence
(ˈæbsəns)
Also 4 absens.
[a. Fr. absence, refash. from OFr. ausence:—L. absentia n. of state f. absent-em absent.]
1. The state of being absent or away (from any place); also the time of duration of such state.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 427 Absens of hire shal dryve hire out of herte. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 203 He made Edwin his lieutenaunt..That he the lond in his absence Shall reule. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. i. 3 The knyȝt..told him howe his wife hadde don in his absence. 1526 Tindale Phil. ii. 12 Not when I was present only, but now moche more in myne absence. 1660 Dryden Astræa Redux 21 For his [Charles II's] long absence Church and State did groan. 1719 Young Busiris ii. i. (1757) 29 Methinks Absence has plac'd her in a fairer light. 1754 Richardson Grandison V. iii. 21 She was very variable all that time in her absences. 1859 Ld. J. Russell Addr. to Electors of Lond., Among the defects of the Bill, which were numerous, one provision was conspicuous by its presence, and one by its absence. 1862 Trench Miracles xxviii. 380 Our Lord..was now returning to Capernaum, after one of his usual absences. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 246 She mourn'd his absence as his grave. 1882 Daily News 3 July 2/1 Other usually prominent members were for several hours conspicuous by their absence. |
b. poet. An absent form or face. Cf. presence.
| 1866 W. D. Howell Venetian Life 118 The balconies are full of the Absences of gay cavaliers and gentle dames. 1873 Higginson Oldport Days i. 14 What graceful Absences (to borrow a certain poet's phrase) are haunting those windows. |
2. Of things: Want, failure, withdrawal.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (1495) ix. xxii. 361 Floures that open ayenst the sonne closen in the euen for absence of the sonne. 1765 Harris Three Treat. i. 24 Was it not the Absence of Health, which excited Men to cultivate the Art of Medicine. 1847 Carpenter Zool. I. §239 They [the Edentata] all agree in the absence of teeth in the front of the jaws. 1863 Kemble Resid. in Georgia 24 A total absence of self-respect. |
3. Absence (of mind): inattention to what is going on; failure to receive impressions of what is present, through preoccupation with other matters; involuntary abstraction.
| 1710 Addison Spectator No. 77 I continued my walk, reflecting on the little absences and distractions of mankind. 1728 Young Love of Fame (1757) iii. 103 Absence of mind Brabantio turns to fame, Learns to mistake, nor knows his brother's name. 1782 Priestley Matter & Spirit I. x. 129 Absence of mind is altogether an involuntary thing. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. vi. 366 Disquietude, absence of mind is on every face; Members whisper, uneasily come and go. |
4. At Eton College, calling of the roll to ascertain if all the boys are present, or who are absent.
| 1856 W. N. Lettsom Song of Floggawaya 6 So the Lord of Puggawaugun Laid on them an extra absence; E'en at that they snapp'd their fingers. 1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 8 June, 10 Absence, as it is called at Eton, requiring the presence of the boys to answer their names. |
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Add: [3.] b. Med. Sudden, temporary, and unexpected loss of consciousness of which the subject is subsequently unaware, esp. in petit mal; an occurrence of this. Freq. in absence seizure.
| 1753 Richardson Grandison V. iii. 21 In that space, Lady Clementina's absences were stronger, but less frequent than before. 1928 W. S. Dunn tr. L. Muskens's Epilepsy xi. 296 In many of these ‘absences’ automatic movements such as chewing..may be continued. 1930 F. B. Talbot Treatm. Epilepsy vi. 68 Minor attacks of epilepsy... In some patients they consist merely of momentary loss of consciousness, so-called ‘absence’, while in others they appear as fainting spells or periods of dizziness. 1957 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 654/2 Such episodes are frequently referred to by parents, teachers or classmates of the afflicted child as ‘staring attacks’, ‘little absences’, ‘fainting turns’, ‘dizzy spells’, or ‘little blackouts’. 1966 Epilepsia. VII. 147 The most frequent combination is that of tonic seizures with variant of petit mal absences. 1968 Brain Res. IX. 372 Behavioural components of the absence seizure. 1987 M. J. Neal Med. Pharmacol. xxiii. 52/2 Absence seizures are usually treated with ethosuximide. |