A Dictionary of the English Language/abase

by Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

To Aba′se. v. a. [Fr. abaissir, from the Lat. basis, or bassus, a barbarous word, signifying low, base.]

1.

To depress, to lower.

It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye; yet with a demure abasing of it sometimes.Bacon.

2.

To cast down, to depress, to bring low; in a figurative and personal sense, which is the common use.

Happy shepherd, to the gods be thankful, that to thy advancement their wisdoms have thee abased.Sidney, b. i.

Behold every one that is proud, and abase him.Job, xl. 11.

With unresisted might the monarch reigns;
He levels mountains, and he raises plains;
And, not regarding diff'rence of degree,
Abas'd your daughter, and exalted me.Dryd. Fables.

If the mind be curbed and humbled too much in children; if their spirits be abased and broken much by too strict an hand over them; they lose all their vigour and industry.Locke on Education, 46.