abject

comparative abjecter · comparative more abject · superlative abjectest · superlative most abject

1. Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable.First known use early 15th c.

   By hovv much from the top of vvondrous glory, / Strongeſt of mortal men, / To lovveſt pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 18, lines 168–170

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   These whelpes of the first lytter of gentilitie, these exhalations, drawen vp to the heauen of honour from the dunghill of abiect fortune, haue long been on horsebacke to come riding to your diuellship; but, I know not how, lyke Saint George, they are alwaies mounted but neuer moue.

   1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC

   VVhen as thoſe fallovv Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd / Vpon her ſhaggy Heaths, the paſſenger amaz'd / To ſee their mighty Heards, vvith high-palmd heads to threat / The vvoods of o'regrovvne Oakes; as though they meant to ſet / Their hornes to th'others heights. / But novv, both thoſe and theſe / Are by vile gaine deuour'd: So abiect are our daies.

   1612, Michael Drayton, “The Twelfth Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, pages 206–207

   [W]ith fierce Winds Orion arm'd / Hath vext the Red-Sea Coaſt, whoſe waves orethrew / Buſiris and his Memphian Chivalrie, / While with perfidious hatred they purſu'd / The Sojourners of Goſhen, who beheld / From the ſafe ſhore their floating Carkaſes / And broken Chariot Wheels, ſo thick beſtrown / Abject and loſt lay theſe, covering the Flood, / Under amazement of their hideous change.

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 305–313

   Do you think, my dear Mrs. James, if the Tables had been turned, if my Fortune had been as high in the World as yours, and you in my Diſtreſs and abject Condition, that I would not have climbed as high as the Monument to viſit you?

   1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “Containing Matters that Require No Preface”, in Amelia, volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, book V, page 129

   The wide dominion of the Franks was severed into a thousand pieces. Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the abject heirs of an illustrious name, Charles the Bald, and Charles the Fat, and Charles the Simple.

   1840 January, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[Robert] Lord Clive. […]”, in Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 119

   Synonyms: degraded, demiss, ignoble, mean, vile, wretched, worthless · Antonyms: unabject

2. broadlyComplete; downright; utter.

   abject failure   abject nonsense   abject terror

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   Lord Howard of Escrick accused [John] Ayloffe of proposing to assassinate the Duke of York; but Lord Howard was an abject liar; and this story was not part of his original confession, but was added afterwards by way of supplement, and therefore deserves no credit whatever.

   1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter V, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, footnote *, page 527

   I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was his hopeless and derisible inferior.

   1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, “Story of the Destroying Angel”, in More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 45

   Synonyms: out-and-out, unmitigated, frightful, absolute, prize, clean, arrant, categoric

3. broadlyrareLower than nearby areas; low-lying.

   The Roots of this Plant [healing wolfsbane (Aconitum anthora)] increaſe abundantly, ſoon overrunning a large Piece of Ground, therefore ſhould be confin'd in ſome abject Part of the Garden, or planted under Trees, it being very hardy, and growing in almoſt every Soil or Situation.

   1733, Philip Miller, “ACONITUM, Wolf’s-bane”, in The Gardeners Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, column 1

4. Of a person: cast down in hope or spirit; showing utter helplessness, hopelessness, or resignation; also, grovelling; ingratiating; servile.First known use mid 14th c.

   Indeed, I know nothing ſo abject as the behaviour of a man canvaſſing for a ſeat in parliament— […]

   1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Dr. Lewis”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 160

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   Oh Noble Lord, bethinke thee of thy birth, / Call home thy ancient thoughts from baniſhment, / And baniſh hence theſe abiect lovvlie dreames: […]

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 209, column 2

   O that I vvere a God, to ſhoot forth Thunder / Vpon theſe paltry, ſeruile, abiect Drudges: / Small things make baſe men proud.

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 137, column 2

   [T]hoſe common and quotidian infirmities that ſo neceſſarily attend me, and doe ſeeme to be my very nature, have ſo dejected me, ſo broken the eſtimation that I ſhould have othervviſe of my ſelf, that I repute my ſelfe the moſt abjecteſt piece of mortality: […]

   1642, [Thomas Browne], “The Second Part”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC, section 7, pages 149–150

   Honeſt men who tell their Sovereigns what they expect from them, and what obedience they ſhall be always ready to pay them, are not upon an equal foot with ſuch baſe and abject flatterers; and are therefore always in danger of being the laſt in the Royal favour.

   1710 October 22 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Whig-Examiner: No. 5. Wednesday, October 12. [1710.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 352

   To ſtrike any perſon, even in the moſt abject condition, was a thing in a manner unknown, and would be highly diſgraceful.

   1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 202

   Synonyms: beggarly, cringing, slavish · Antonyms: unabject

5. noun from verbusuallyhuman sciencesMarginalized as deviant.

   The disclosure of tolerance's hidden phobic lining fits in well with queer theory's embrace of the abject.

   2009, W. C. Harris, Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 98

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   The abject can easily be grafted onto the immigrant body, which is often conceived as something to be excluded in order to preserve a coherent yet racist national imaginary.

   2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 59

plural abjects

1. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; an oppressed person; an outcast; also, such people as a class.First known use early 16th c.

   VVe are the Queenes abiects and muſt obey.

   c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

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   Nevertheleſſe he thatt comfortith the abiecte⸝ comforted vs at the cõmynge of Titus.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Seconde Pistle off Paul the Apostle to the Corrinthyans vij:[6], folio ccxl, verso

   For honour trauels in a ſtraight ſo narrovv, / VVhere one but goes a breaſt, keepe then the path: / […] if you giue vvay, / Or hedge aſide from the direct forth right; / Like to an entred Tyde, they all ruſh by, / And leaue you hindmoſt: / Or like a gallant Horſe falne in firſt ranke, / Lye there for pauement to the abiect, neere / Ore-run and trampled on: […]

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], column 1

   But in mine aduerſitie they reioyced, and gathered themſelues together: yea, the abiects gathered themſelues together againſt me, & I knew it not, they did teare me, and ceaſed not, […]

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 35:15, column 1

   Servants and abjects flout me; they are wittie: / Now propheſie who ſtrikes thee, is their dittie. / So they in me denie themſelves all pitie: / Was ever grief, [like mine?]

   [1633], George Herbert, “The Sacrifice”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 23

   [T]he subject of a tyrant's will / Became, worse fate, the abject of his own, / Which spurred him, like an outspent horse, to death.

   1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 118

   Synonyms: heanling, wretch

present singular third person abjects · participle present abjecting · participle past abjected · past abjected

1. archaictransitiveTo cast off or out (someone or something); to reject, especially as contemptible or inferior.First known use 15th c.

   […] Dauid durſt not touch Saul, though he vvas abiected by God.

   1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Elizabeth Queene of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 104, page 848, column 1

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   Rather than abjecting her own fat body, the Ipecac-taking fat girl is abjecting diet culture.

   2001, Le’a Kent, “Fighting Abjection: Representing Fat Women”, in Jana Evans Braziel, Kathleen LeBesco, editors, Bodies out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: University of California Press, →ISBN, part I (Revaluing Corpulence, Redefining Fat Subjectivities), page 141

2. archaictransitiveTo cast down (someone or something); to abase; to debase; to degrade; to lower; also, to forcibly impose obedience or servitude upon (someone); to subjugate.First known use 15th c.

   What phrases of abjecting themselves, in respect of the prince, can exceed David's humble expressing of himself to Saul?

   a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon IX. Preached on Candlemas Day.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 182

3. archaictransitivebiologyOf a fungus: to (forcibly) give off (spores or sporidia).