abase
verbEtymology
From Late Middle English abaishen, abashen, abaisse, abassen, abesse, abessen (“to be upset; to embarrass; to surprise; to confound; to bend down, stoop; to abase, degrade, disgrace”), from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, abessier (“to prostrate oneself; to lower, reduce”) (also compare Old French esbahir (“to amaze”), Vulgar Latin abbassiāre (“to lower”)), from a- (prefix indicating movement towards something) (from Latin ad (“toward, to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at, to”)) + baissier (“to lower”) (from Medieval Latin bassus (“short of stature, low; base”), possibly from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs, “foot; base, foundation”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). The spelling of the English word has been influenced by base, thus ostensibly analyzable as a- (“towards”) + base. There exist verb cognates in galloromance languages such as Catalan abaixar (“lower; abase”) and Occitan abaissar, and similar word construction in other romance languages as Spanish abajo (“down, downstairs; below”).
Definitions
To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt…
To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.
- For whoſoeuer exalteth himſelfe ſhalbe abaſed: and hee that humbleth himſelfe, ſhalbe exalted.
To lower physically
To lower physically; to depress; to cast or throw down; to stoop.
- to abase the eye
- Her gracious words their rancour did appall, / And ſuncke ſo deepe into their boyling breſts, / That downe they lett their cruel weapons fall, / And lowly did abaſe their lofty creſts, / To her faire preſence, and diſcrete beheſts.
To lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins
To lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins; to debase.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for abase. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA