abet

present singular third person abets · participle present abetting · participle past abetted · past abetted

1. transitivecrimeTo incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.First known use ca. 1350–1470

   aid and abet

   4 more examples

   Those who would exalt themselves by abetting the strength of the Godless, and the wrength of the oppressors.

   1823, John Galt, Ringan Gilhaize or The Covenanters

   The Statute provides that whoever has been engaged in aiding, abetting, or assisting, directly or indirectly, is criminal.

   1851, Charles G. Davis, Report of the Proceedings at the Examination of Charles G. Davis, Esq., on the Charge of Aiding and Abetting in the Rescue of a Fugitive Slave, page 39

   In the matter of Treason the pig would appear / To have aided, but scarcely abetted: / While the charge of Insolvency fails, it is clear, If you grant the plea ‘never indebted.

   1874–1876 (date written), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Fit the Fit the Sixth.⁠ The Barrister’s Dream.”, in The Hunting of the Snark […], London: Macmillan and Co., published March 1876, →OCLC

   The brief, a motion for summary judgment in a case stemming from Fox’s egregiously false claims of Dominion-abetted election fraud, offers a portrait of extravagant cynicism.

   2023 February 17, Michelle Goldberg, “What Fox News Says When You’re Not Listening”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: collude, conspire, connive

2. transitiveTo support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).First known use late 16th c.

   Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted.

   a. 1667, Jeremy Taylor, edited by George Rust, The whole works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, published 1835

   3 more examples

   The elements, however, abetted me in making a path through the deepest snow in the woods, for when I had once gone through the wind blew the oak leaves into my tracks, where they lodged, and by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow, and so not only made a dry bed for my feet, but in the night their dark line was my guide.

   1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC

   Later some of these artistic friends[…]abetted this ecclesiastical view in so far as they renounced pre-Raphaelism and learned to love the baroque; but that was an aesthetic fashion also, and corrupt,[…]

   1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic

   By the early Seventies, Playboy was selling seven million copies a month and Hefner's globe-trotting lifestyle was abetted by his private jet, the Big Bunny, that contained a circular bed, an inside disco and a wet bar.

   2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 28 Sep 2017

   Synonyms: approve, patronize, sanction, support, tolerate

3. obsoletetransitiveTo urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.First known use late 14th–early 17th c.

   Synonyms: instigate, foment, encourage, support, actuate, goose, fuel, light a fire under · Antonyms: baffle, confound, counteract, denounce, deter, behedge, blunt, crimp

4. obsoleteTo back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.

plural abets

1. obsoleteFraud or cunning.First known use mid 12th–mid 14th c.
2. obsoleteAn act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid.First known use ca. 1350–1470