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to reduce in amount, degree, intensity, etc.; lessen; diminish:
to abate a tax; to abate one’s enthusiasm.
Law.

to put an end to or suppress (a nuisance).
to suspend or extinguish (an action).
to annul (a writ).

to deduct or subtract:
to abate part of the cost.
to omit:
to abate all mention of names.
to remove, as in stone carving, or hammer down, as in metalwork, (a portion of a surface) in order to produce a figure or pattern in low relief.
to diminish in intensity, violence, amount, etc.:
The storm has abated. The pain in his shoulder finally abated.
Law. to end; become null and void.
Historical Examples

I must confess thy love touches my heart; it disarms, it abates my sternness; thy Psyche shall see the light again.
Psyche Molire

In comes Ailie: one look at her quiets and abates the eager students.
Spare Hours John Brown

My dear, I have many lonely hours; I have much suffering, which abates enthusiasm.
Missy Miriam Coles Harris

In comes Ailie; one look at her quiets and abates the eager students.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 Charles H. Sylvester

Will you stay under shelter a few minutes yet, and see whether it abates?
Verner’s Pride Mrs. Henry Wood

Whether or not it abates one half the guilt, I make the confession.
Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders William A. Alcott

The scent, acting as a stimulant to the skin, increases rather than abates any tendency to redness.
Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million Sarah Josepha Hale

To Friendship—it improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.
Suppers Paul Pierce

Then, when the search for you abates, we can strike down thence to the seacoast, if the white men are still there.
By Right of Conquest G. A. Henty

On the advent of the joint affection the discharge usually continues as it was, although it often abates somewhat.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II Various

verb
to make or become less in amount, intensity, degree, etc: the storm has abated
(transitive) (law)

to remove, suppress, or terminate (a nuisance)
to suspend or extinguish (a claim or action)
to annul (a writ)

(intransitive) (law) (of a writ, legal action, etc) to become null and void
(transitive) to subtract or deduct, as part of a price
v.

“put an end to” (c.1300); “to grow less, diminish in power or influence” (early 14c.), from Old French abattre “beat down, cast down,” from Vulgar Latin *abbatere, from Latin ad “to” (see ad-) + battuere “to beat” (see batter (v.)). Secondary sense of “to fell, slaughter” is in abatis and abattoir. Related: Abated; abating.