[a. Fr. absent, refashioned from OFr. ausent:—L. absent-em pr. pple. of ab-sum, ab-esse to be away.]
A. adj.
1. Being away, withdrawn from, or not present (at a place).
1382. Wyclif, Deut. xxix. 15. Ne to ȝou alone I this covenaunt smyte, and thes oothes conferme, but to all present & absent.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., I. vii. 16. And while (the serpent) was absent, ther com a toode, and entrid into the nest.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. iii. 156. With this she fell distract, And (her Attendants absent) swallow’d fire.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett., I. xi. 37. I know that you can think of an absent friend even in the midst of a court.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 152, ¶ 13. Letters are written … to preserve in the minds of the absent either love or esteem.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 485. Absent officers were summoned to join their corps.
2. Of things: Withdrawn; wanting, not existing.
1718. Pope, Iliad, VIII. 633. Let numerous fires the absent sun supply.
1810. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 94. The reason is either lost or not lost, that is, wholly present or wholly absent.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., II. § 523. In fishes the ribs are sometimes entirely absent.
1860. Tyndall, Glaciers, II. § 17. 324. Crevasses … are almost totally absent at the opposite side of the glacier.
3. Of time: Not present, distant, afar off.
1535. Coverdale, Is. xiii. 21. And as for Babilons tyme, it is at honde, & hir dayes maye not be longe absent.
4. Absent-minded; paying no attention to, and receiving no impression from, present objects or events.
1710. Steele, Spectator, No. 30, ¶ 4. The whole assembly is made up of absent men, that is, of such persons as have lost their locality, & whose minds and bodies never keep company with one another.
1761. Smollett, Gil Blas (1802), III. VIII. xiii. 39. I lost all my gaiety, became absent and thoughtful; in a word, a miserable animal.
1875. P. G. Hamerton, Intell. Life, XI. v. 429. Deep thinkers are notoriously absent, for thought requires abstraction from what surrounds us.
† B. sb. One who is absent, an absentee. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. viii. 200. Þe Byschapys þat þare ware, Of þa Absentis had na poware For til mak awnser.
1535–75. Abp. Parker, Corresp., 308. How many be resident … & in what place and calling the Absents do dwell.
1699. Burnet, 39 Articles (1700), xxviii. 347. Some parts of the Elements were sent to the absents, to those in Prison, and particularly to the sick.
C. Comb. absent-minded, a. pre-occupied, = ABSENT a. 4; absent-mindedly, adv. in a preoccupied manner, without active attention, = ABSENTLY; absent-mindedness, preoccupation, = ABSENCE 3.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, III. ii. 46. He had grown moody and thoughtful, melancholy and absent-minded.
1879. Calderwood, Mind & Brain, 274. When so occupied a person is readily charged with absent-mindedness, and his look conveys the impression of remoteness from present influences.
1881. H. James, jun. Portrait of a Lady, xxxvi., in Macm. Mag., XLIV. 91. ‘Do you believe him?’ Osmond asked, absent-mindedly.
