absit

plural absits

1. UKFormal permission to be away from a college for the greater part of the day or more.

   An exeat was needed to be away for the night and, in theory at least, an absit for the greater part of the day.

   1992, Eric Lionel Mascall, Saraband: The Memoirs of E.L. Mascall, →ISBN, page 56

   3 more examples

   In the evening, after some difficulty, he persuaded his tutor to give him an absit to sleep at Huntingdon that night, and drove over there after dinner in a fly with Egerton, Castleton, and Grey.

   1868, George Charles L. Tottenham, Charlie Villars at Cambridge, page 198

   Another associated matter was the subject of a discussion, on one occasion only, on the effect of an absit on a student's residence if he used it to be away from Cambridge from Saturday to Monday 'as is allowed at at least one College'.

   1983, W. W. Grave, Fitzwilliam College Cambridge, 1869-1969, page 53

   The following week he wrot her. 'It is a most shameful thing that he should keep me on like this...I am awfully cross because now I am not able to come home for an absit [overnight leave] on Thursday which I very much wanted to do.'

   2015, William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, →ISBN

plural absits

1. A portion of fermenting dough diluted to a paste with water and then cooked.

   The cooking gelatinizes the starch and makes the absit viscous.

   2011, Elke Arendt, Fabio Dal Bello, Gluten-Free Cereal Products and Beverages, →ISBN, page 135

   2 more examples

   A portion of the fermented paste may be mixed with three parts of water and boiled, resulting in an absit.

   1987, Larry R. Beuchat, Food and Beverage Mycology, →ISBN, page 296

   An absit is not made, and the baking is carried out on an open hotplate.

   2012, S P Cauvain, Breadmaking: Improving Quality, →ISBN, page 764