a. and sb. [a. Fr. abstinent, refashioned on OFr. astenant:—L. abstinentem, pr. pple. of abstinē-re: see ABSTAIN.]
A. adj. Holding back or refraining; esp. from indulgence of appetite; continent, abstemious, temperate.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pers. T., 873. Abstinent in etyng and drynkyng, in speche and in dede.
c. 1440. Prompt. Parv., Abstynent, or absteynynge.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 132 b. Bot he, quha is abstinent, sal prolonge his lyf.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Morals, 651. And he againe, who is too too sober, and abstinent altogether, becometh unpleasant and unsociable.
1713. Guardian (1756), I. 16. She has passed several years in widowhood with that abstinent enjoyment of life, which has done honour to her deceased husband.
1867. J. Martineau, Chr. Life (ed. 4), 84. What abstinent integrity is … demanded by many a master.
B. sb. One who abstains, an abstainer, a faster. In Eccl. Hist. the Abstinents were a sect who appeared in the 3rd century.
c. 1440. Prompt. Parv., Abstynent … or he that dothe abstynence.
1615. Chapman, Odyssey, XVII. 381. And this same harmful belly by no mean The greatest abstinent can ever wean.
1669. J. Reynolds, Disc., in Harl. Misc. (1745), iv. 48. Some of these Abstinents were of melancholick complexions.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Suppl. s.v., Some represent the Abstinentes … that they particularly enjoined abstinence from the use of marriage; others say, from flesh; and others, from wine.
1860. All Y. Round, No. 64. 322. There is also [in China] a female sect called the Abstinents … who make a vow to abstain from everything that has enjoyed life, and to eat nothing but vegetables.
