"act or state of being decreased or mitigated" in some way, mid-14c., from Old French abatement "overthrowing; reduction," from abatre "strike down; reduce" (see abate). Now mostly in the legal sense "destruction or removal of a nuisance, etc." (1520s).

mid-14c., "exciting disgust or loathing, morally detestable," from Old French abominable (12c.) and directly from Late Latin abominabilis "deserving abhorrence," from stem of Latin abominari "deplore (as an evil omen)," hence, generally, "detest, execrate, deprecate," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + omin-, stem of omen (see omen).

The more common Middle English form was abhominable, which persisted into 17c.; it is a folk-etymology, as if from Latin ab homine "away from man" (thus "beastly"). In early Modern English sometimes misdivided as a bominable. Related: Abominably; abominableness. Abominable snowman (1921) translates Tibetan meetaoh kangmi.

mid-14c., "forbearance in indulgence of the appetites," from Old French abstinance (earlier astenance), from Latin abstinentia "abstinence, starvation; self-restraint, integrity," abstract noun from abstinentem (nominative abstinens), present participle of abstinere/abstenere "withhold, keep back, keep off," from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + tenere "to hold" (from PIE root *ten- "to stretch"). Especially of sexual appetites but also in Middle English of food, fighting, luxury.

"copious quantity or supply," mid-14c., from Old French abondance and directly from Latin abundantia "fullness, plenty," abstract noun from abundant-, stem of abundans "overflowing, full," present participle of abundare "to overflow" (see abound).

mid-14c., "in agreement with" (now obsolete), from according + -ly (2). From mid-15c. as "properly, adequately;" meaning "agreeably with logic or expectation" is from 1680s.

"one who accuses or blames," especially "person who formally accuses another of an offense before a magistrate," mid-14c., accusour, from Anglo-French accusour, Old French accusor, from Latin accusator, agent-noun from past-participle stem of accusare (see accuse).

mid-14c., accioun, "cause or grounds for a lawsuit," from Anglo-French accioun, Old French accion, action (12c.) "action; lawsuit, case," from Latin actionem (nominative actio) "a putting in motion; a performing, a doing; public acts, official conduct; lawsuit, legal action" (source also of Spanish accion, Italian azione), noun of action from past-participle stem of agere "to do" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move").

Spelling with the restored Latin -t- begins in 15c. The meaning "active exertion, activity" is from late 14c. The sense of "something done, an act, deed" is late 14c. The meaning "military fighting" is from 1590s. The meaning "way in which (a firearm, etc.) acts" is from 1845. As a film director's command, it is attested from 1923.

The meaning "noteworthy or important activity" in a modern sense by 1933, as in the figurative phrase a piece of the action (by 1965), perhaps from a sense of action in card-playing jargon attested by 1914.

No "action" can be had on a bet until the card bet upon appears. If it does not appear after a turn has been made, the player is at liberty to change his bet, or to remove it altogether. Each bet is made for the turn only, unless the player chooses to leave it until he gets some action on it. [from "Faro" in "Hoyle's Games," A.L. Burt Company, New York: 1914]

But there are uses of action as far back as c. 1600 that seem to mean "noteworthy activity." The meaning "excitement" is recorded from 1968. In action "in a condition of effective operation" is from 1650s. Phrase actions speak louder than words is attested from 1731. Action-packed is attested from 1953, originally of movies.

mid-14c., actif, active, "given to worldly activity" (opposed to contemplative or monastic), from Old French actif (12c.) and directly from Latin activus, from actus "a doing" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move").

As "capable of acting" (opposed to passive), from late 14c. Meaning "energetic, lively" is from 1590s; that of "working, effective, in operation" (opposed to inactive) is from 1640s. The grammatical active voice is recorded from 1765; grammatical use of active, signifying performance and not endurance of an action, dates from mid-15c. (opposed to passive or reflexive).

"a very hard stone," mid-14c., adamant, adamaunt, from Old French adamant "diamond; magnet" or directly from Latin adamantem (nominative adamas) "adamant, hardest iron, steel," also used figuratively, of character, from Greek adamas (genitive adamantos), the name of a hypothetical hardest material.

It is a noun use of an adjective meaning "unbreakable, inflexible," which was metaphoric of anything unalterable (such as Hades) and is of uncertain origin. It is perhaps literally "invincible, indomitable," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + daman "to conquer, to tame," from PIE root *deme- "to constrain, force, break (horses)," for which see tame (adj.). "But semantically, the etymology is rather strange," according to Beekes, who suggests it might be a foreign word altered in Greek by folk etymology, and compares Akkadian (Semitic) adamu.

Applied in antiquity to a metal resembling gold (Plato), white sapphire (Pliny), magnet (Ovid, perhaps through confusion with Latin adamare "to love passionately"), steel, emery stone, and especially diamond, which is a variant of this word. "The name has thus always been of indefinite and fluctuating sense" [Century Dictionary]. The word had been in Old English as aðamans, but the modern word is a re-borrowing.

mid-14c., ajournen, "assign a day, fix a day" (for convening or reconvening of an organized body), from Old French ajorner (12c.) "meet" (at an appointed time), from the phrase à jorn "to another day, to a (stated) day," from à "to" (see ad-) + journ "day," from Latin diurnus "daily," from dies "day" (from PIE root *dyeu- "to shine").

The notion is of setting a date for re-meeting. The meaning "close a meeting" (with or without intention to reconvene) is from early 15c. The sense of "go in a body to another place" (1640s) is colloquial.

The English word has had the -d- since 16c., but the spelling is unetymological, as the compound apparently is not from Latin; Middle French also occasionally has adjourner, but this was rejected in Modern French. Related: Adjourned; adjourning.