Talk:abate

Ab8

I removed this entry: "Ab8 used mainly in text messaging" because it's not a definition of the word, just an abbreviation of it. But I wonder if it would be useful to have a separate section for common abbreviations. Thoughts, anyone? -- Ortonmc 16:12, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Ortonmc, I agree that "ab8" does not belong here. I think we could be at it 4evR trying to catalog all the various abbreviations contrived by text messagers to avoid a few keystrokes. Though some may have entered common usage, I believe most of them are, in essence, generated spontaneously and interpreted spontaneously, just as people have successfully decoded truncated phrases on personalized license plates for years. Besides, if anyone is really baffled by one, they can usually ask the source. OTOH (on the other hand), acronyms that have grown out of the Internet age and gained widespread usage (witness the now-ubiquitous 'LOL') should be recorded because it is not immediately apparent to the uninitiated reader what they mean. This does not mean we need to include silly made-up specimens such as ROTFLMAOASTC (rolling on the floor laughing my ass off and scaring the cat) that, in practice, are nearly never used in the absence of an explanation. -- Dvortygirl 19:39, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

One more thought: stuff in "L33T" (leet) does not belong here, either, for the same reasons text message abbreviations don't. The H4XX0R5 (hackers) of the world spontaneously encode English for their own purposes and generally know how to decode it. It would be like cataloging all of pig Latin. -- Dvortygirl 19:31, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, it's pointless to have that abbreviation here. Besides, I don't think people who text or use IM with internet abbreviations use the word abate, do you? Instead of typing "dont ab8 me" they would just use "dont diss me man".

RFV discussion: February–April 2022

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abate

• (transitive, obsolete) To bring down (someone) mentally or physically; to lower (someone) in status; to abase or humble. [14th–17th c.]
  • [1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Parsons Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folios cii, recto – cii, verso:

    As god ſayeth the horrible deuels ſhall go and come vpon the heedes of dampned folke: and thys is for as moche as yͤ hygher that they were in this preſent lyfe, the more ſhal they be abated and defoyled in hell.

    As God sayeth, "The horrible devils shall go and come upon the heads of the damned folk": and this is, forasmuch as the higher that they were in this present life, the more should they be humbled and defouled in hell.]

Tagged by Astova, not listed (“Chaucer (cp. Citations:abated) which was used to cite this is Middle English (enm)”). J3133 (talk) 21:06, 19 February 2022 (UTC)

OED has four post-1500 cites. Should be citeable. To be marked "obsolete". This, that and the other (talk) 07:56, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Cited, copying from NED. This, that and the other (talk) 07:58, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 00:03, 13 April 2022 (UTC)