Law [a. late Anglo-Fr. abator, -tour agent n. f. abatre = enbatre: see ABATE2 and -OR.] One who abates, or without right seizes upon the possession of a freehold between the death of its owner and the entry of the heir or devisee.
1531. Dial. on Laws of Eng., II. xii. 81 (1638). The abators were bounden in conscience to restore to the executors … the profits.
1629. Coke, First Pt. of Inst., 194. Where there bee two joynt Abators or Intruders which come in merely by wrong.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 168. This entry of him is called an abatement, and he himself is denominated an abator.
1832. Edin. Rev., LV. 324. The abator, or wrongful occupier … had entered upon the lands.
