[ad. L. abject-us, pa. pple. of abjĭcĕre to cast off, throw away, f. ab off, away + -jic-ĕre = jac-ĕre to throw, cast. At first, like its L. original, a pple. and adj., accented abje·ct. After the formation of the vb. abject, it was gradually superseded in the ppl. use, by the regular form abjected, but remained as an adj. with shifted accent a·bject, also from an early period used substantively.]
A. pple. and adj.
† 1. pple. Cast off, cast out, rejected. Obs.
c. 1430. Lydgate, Bochas (1554), II. i. 43 a. Thus was Saul … Abiect from his royal see.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys, I. 72. The Holy Bybyll grounde of trouthe and of lawe Is now of many abject and nought set by.
c. 1585. Faire Em, II. 388. I am abject in those gracious eyes, That with remorse erst saw into my grief.
1614. W. Browne, Shepherd’s Pipe, Wks. 1772, III. 16. Well worthy were it me to been abject From all good company.
2. adj. Cast down, downcast, brought low in position, condition or estate, low-lying.
a. 1520. Myrroure of Our Ladye, 52. And hir outwarde apparell was nat after the condicion of hir persone, but moch meke and abiecte.
1526. Tindale, 2 Cor. vii. 6. He thatt comfortith the abiecte.
1671. Milton, Samson, 169. To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall’n.
1729. R. Savage, The Wanderer, i. 399. Rains redundant food the abject ground.
1742. Walpole, Lett. to H. Mann, 26 (1834), I. 112. I hope his state will grow more abject every day.
1840. Macaulay, Essays, Clive, II. 502. Nothing more than a nominal dignity was left to the abject heirs of an illustrious name.
1854. Syd. Dobell, Balder, xiii. 56. Lying most humbly weary and abject On the immoveable earth.
3. Down in spirit or hope; low in regard or estimation, degraded, mean-spirited, despicable.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Paraph., Matt. x. 19. Unlearned and abiecte men.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 105. These paltry, seruile, abiect Drudges.
1642. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., 163. I repute my self the most abjectest piece of mortality.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker (1815), 91. I know nothing so abject as the behaviour of a man canvassing for a seat in parliament.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 527, note. Howard was an abject liar.
1879. O’Connor, Ld. Beaconsfield, 554. Those who in adversity are the most abject, are in prosperity the most insolent.
B. sb. One cast off; a castaway, an outcast; a degraded person.
1534. More, Comforte agt. Tribulacyon, I. Wks. 1557, 1145/1. He is not an abiect, cast out of god’s gracious fauour.
1582. T. Bentley, Monumt. Matrones, iii. 328. O almightie God: which raisest vp the abiects, and exaltest the miserable from the dunghill.
1611. Bible, Ps. xxxv. 15. The abiects gathered themselues together against me.
1631. G. Herbert, Temple, Sacrifice, 36. Servants and abjects flout me, they are witty.
1818. Shelley, Prom. Unbd., III. iv. The subject of a tyrant’s will Became, worse fate! the abject of his own.
1867. H. Bushnell, Dark Things, 57. What wonder that men have been deified and set up as idols of religious worship, when souls are only abjects to themselves.
