A‐bate″ (ȧ‐bāt″), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Abated, p. pr. & vb. n.Abating.] [OF. abatre to beat down, F. abattre, LL. abatere; ab or ad + batere, battere (popular form for L. batuere to beat). Cf. Bate, Batter.] 1. To beat down; to overthrow.
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.
To abate the edge of envy.
Bacon.
5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive.
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.