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Abstemious
Definitions
- 1 Refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink; sparing in diet; abstinent, temperate.
"It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation."
- 2 Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
"The Ms had an abstemious sex life; in fourteen years of marriage, they had had sex exactly six times. Mrs. M desired sex and more children, but her husband refused."
- 3 Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
"If the predisposition to the disease has arisen from a plethoric state of the system, or from a turgescence in the vessels of the head, this is to be obviated by bleeding, both generally and topically, but more particularly the latter; an abstemious diet and proper exercise; and by a seton in the neck."
- 4 Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.
"an abstemious life"
- 5 Promotive of abstemiousness. rare
"But ſtranger Virtues yet in Streams we find, / Some change not only Bodies, but the Mind: / […] Clytorian Streams the love of Wine expel, / (Such is the virtue of th' abſtemious Well;) […]"
- 1 sparing in consumption of especially food and drink wordnet
- 2 marked by temperance in indulgence wordnet
Etymology
From Latin abstēmius (“abstaining from wine”); from ab, abs (“from”) + tēmus, a root of tēmētum (“intoxicating drink, especially strong mead or wine”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark (referring to the colour of wine)”)) + -ous.
See also for "abstemious"
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