abacination

English

Alternative forms

• abbacination

Etymology

From abacinate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˌbæsɪˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

abacination (countable and uncountable, plural abacinations)

1. The act of abacinating, of blinding with the light from hot metal
   • 1902, James Meeker Ludlow, Incentives for Life, Personal and Public‎^[1], page 144:

     That blind general lost his sight by the process of abacination.

   • 1972, Trevanian (pseud.), The Eiger Sanction‎^[2], Ballantine, published 1984, →ISBN, page 105:

     Her warmth and radiance had blinded him, a self-inflicted abacination.

   • 1982, Gene Wolfe, chapter XXIV, in The Sword of the Lictor (The Book of the New Sun; 3), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 179:

     I, who had seen so many brandings and abacinations, and had even used the iron myself (among the billion things I recall perfectly is the flesh of Morwenna's cheeks blistering), could scarcely force myself to go and look at him.