A·bate v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abated, p. pr. & vb. n. Abating.]
 1. To beat down; to overthrow. [Obs.]
    The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls.   --Edw. Hall.
 2. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope.
    His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.   --Deut. xxxiv. 7.
 3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price.
    Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds.   --Fuller.
 4. To blunt. [Obs.]
    To abate the edge of envy.   --Bacon.
 5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.]
    She hath abated me of half my train.   --Shak.
 6. Law (a) To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away with; as, to abate a nuisance, to abate a writ. (b) Eng. Law To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
 To abate a tax, to remit it either wholly or in part.


 abating
      adj : decreasing in amount or intensity [syn: subsiding]