abstractionn.
/əbˈstrakʃn/, U.S. /əbˈstrækʃ(ə)n/, /æbˈstrækʃ(ə)n/ 1. The action of withdrawing or secluding oneself from worldly or sensual things, or of turning one's mind away from the world towards the contemplation of the spiritual; a state of solitude or concentration on the spiritual arising from this action. Frequently with from (also †fro), of.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > retirement or seclusion > [noun]
privity?c1225
reclusionc1430
abstractionc1450
recess?1532
privacy1534
solitariousness1545
retirea1554
secess1570
privatenessa1586
retirednessa1586
retirement1603
secrecy1607
closeness1612
shadow1612
privatea1616
recluseness1648
abstractednessa1653
recluse1665
abscondence1694
seclusion1785
seclusiveness1822
retiracy1824
secludedness1835
retraite1843
c1450 (a1400) Orologium Sapientiæ in Anglia (1888) 10 362 (MED) Þere beth ful fewe so parfitely disposed to deth, the whiche [with] grete abstraccyone fro þe worlde and deuocyone of herte coueyten to dye for þe desyre of euerlastynge life.
1566 J. Rastell Third Bk. beware of M. Iewel f. 61v Others..haue not the lyke Eleuation and Abstraction of mind, to vse these visible and holy signes.
1633 H. Hawkins Partheneia Sacra xvi. 182 The earth of her [sc. the Hen's] abstraction, gaue her abundantly to feed most deliciously.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. iv. 122 Lifted up by the abstractions of this first degree of mortification.
1717 A. Pope Let. in Wks. (1871–89) IV. 276 A hermit wishes to be praised for his abstraction.
1783 J. Cobb Eight Serm. iv. 93 His [sc. Abraham's] abstraction from the world, became as it were entire.
1820 W. Ward View Hindoos (ed. 3) IV. 125 Clear knowledge of spirit arises from yogŭ, or abstraction of mind.
1874 J. T. Wheeler Hist. India III. iii. 116 He..learned the science of Samadhi, or perfect abstraction of the soul.
1914 D. S. Margoliouth Early Devel. Mohammedanism v. 148 The Sufis endeavour to spiritualise the ceremony by making it an occasion for complete abstraction from the world.
2005 A. D'Souza Christian Ethics & Moral Values v. 199 For Thomas it meant the abstraction of the mind from the phantasy of the senses.
2.
a. The action of taking something away; the action or process of withdrawing or removing something from a larger quantity or whole; (now) esp. the extraction of water from a river or other source for domestic or industrial use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > [noun] > removal or taking away
withdrawingc1315
remuingc1330
withdraught1340
taking awaya1382
discharginga1398
removinga1398
remotiona1425
subtraction?a1425
amovingc1443
taking offc1450
abstraction1467
way-taking1479
substracting1549
conveyance1567
sublation1567
remove1589
removal1595
exemption1598
substraction1601
supporting1608
amovement1618
subductiona1620
conveying1621
amolitiona1641
withdrawment1640
subducting1645
suffuration1651
summotion1653
amoval1657
withdraw1720
withdrawal1838
removement1846
1467 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 8/1 Anent the abstractioune of the water of Northesk fra the ald gang.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) i. 15 He dois chestee them, be the abstractione of..superfluite.
1591 R. Hill tr. W. Perkins Golden Chaine xiii. sig. C7 Abstraction, is the firste cogitation of committing sinne, whereby the minde is with-drawne from Gods seruice.
1596 T. Bell Suruey Popery i. i. 20 If we make abstraction of 14. from 37. the remainder will be 23. yeres for the inter-reigne.
1612 W. Cowper Three Heavenly Treat. Christ i. 36 Rehoboam..procured the abstraction of tenne parts of the kingdome.
1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 122 in Justice Vindicated I say, Justice must have..abstraction from all affections of love, hate, or self-interest.
1738 A. de Moivre Doctr. of Chances (ed. 2) Introd. 6 Make abstraction of the Value of the Sum to be obtain'd.
1795 W. Paley View Evidences Christianity (ed. 3) II. ii. ii. 69 Amongst the negative qualities of our religion..we may reckon its complete abstraction from all views of ecclesiastical or civil policy.
1818 M. Faraday Exper. Res. vi. 13 He there states its production to be dependent on the abstraction of ammonia by the atmosphere.
1868 T. G. Thomas Pract. Treat. Dis. Women xviii. 259 A copious abstraction by leeches, during the menstrual epoch, will sometimes give relief.
1872 River Pollution Comm. (1868): 4th Rep.: Pollution Rivers Scotl. I. 99 in Parl. Papers (C. 603) XXXIV. 1 The next table gives the statistics of those towns whose water supply is obtained either from springs..or by abstraction from rivers.
1906 Jrnl. Pathol. & Bacteriol. 11 170 Following the abstraction of blood, the symptoms developed rapidly.
1977 Ecologist 7 66/1 In 1973 abstraction in the river Lee had to be curtailed due to such increases in nitrates.
2010 Herald Express (Torquay) (Nexis) 16 July 44 Most of the problems are caused by abstraction of water continuing as normal, despite the lowest spring and summer rainfall in a generation.
b. The action of taking something away unlawfully or dishonestly; stealing, theft; embezzlement. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking surreptitiously > [noun]
surreption1526
conveyancea1529
subductiona1646
snicking1673
abstraction1823
snitching1933
grazing1979
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > embezzlement or misappropriation > [noun]
misnimming?c1225
embezzlement1548
malversationc1550
falsity1581
misapplication1607
interverting1614
peculate1617
peculation1658
abstracting1669
plunderage1700
interversiona1754
conveyancing1754
misappropriation1794
abstraction1823
defalcation1832
malappropriation1848
teeming and lading1859
boodlery1886
bobol1907
chop-chop1966
liberation1966
1823 C. Lamb in London Mag. July 24/1 He robs nothing but the revenue,—an abstraction I never greatly cared about.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. Pref. 9 A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community.
1921 Southwestern Reporter 226 197/2 He pleaded guilty, and thereafter testified that he alone was responsible for the abstraction of the bank's funds.
2001 E. Phillips et al. Law rel. to Theft ii. 54 There has been more controversy when it comes to the abstraction of money from companies by those who are wholly in control of them.
3.
a. The action of considering something in the abstract, independently of its associations or attributes; the process of isolating properties or characteristics common to a number of diverse objects, events, etc., without reference to the peculiar properties of particular examples or instances. Also: the state of being considered in this way; abstractness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > [noun] > separating of ideas
precision1529
abstraction1579
abstractionism1842
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > [noun] > separating of ideas > result of
abstraction1579
1579 W. Fulke Confut. Treat. N. Sander in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 612 The grosse image of stone being made thus a subtile & fantasticall image by abstraction.
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. H8 Next argument let be abstraction, When as the soul with notion precise Keeps off the corporall condition.
1675 H. Croft Naked Truth 35 I grant in a Metaphysical way of Abstraction, the superiour species contains the inferiour genus.
1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. §5 Can there be a nicer strain of abstraction than to distinguish the existence of sensible objects from their being perceived.
1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit viii. 84 Mr. Locke..observed..that abstraction is nothing more than leaving out of a number of resembling ideas, what is peculiar to each.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect ii. iv. 592 The first in order of the scientific processes is Abstraction, or the generalizing of some property, so as to present it to the mind apart from the other properties that usually go along with it in nature.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. ii. 47 No other animal is self-conscious, comprehends itself, has the power of abstraction, or possesses general ideas.
1880 Westm. Rev. Jan. 11/2 With them the idea of a limit, the leading inspiration of Greek thought, had reached a higher degree of abstraction.
1903 Philos. Rev. 12 620 That sensible and single picture of that individual..tree may, by the mysterious process of intuition that we call abstraction, be converted..into the intellectual universal representation of the tree in itself.
1983 H. B. Miller & W. H. Williams Ethics & Animals vii. 305 The excessive abstraction of philosophy is both the result of and a contributor to human alienation from the natural world.
2000 N. Fairclough New Labour, New Lang. i. 26 Nominalisation involves abstraction from the diversity of processes going on.
b. Something considered or expressed in abstract terms; something which exists only as an idea or in theory; an abstract concept or idea; (also occasionally) a visionary or impractical idea.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > abstractness > abstraction
abstracta1398
abstraction1579
theory1592
abstractum1728
unding1932
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 647 As you your selfe..in your Metaphysicall abstractions haue taught vs.
1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 2 They present their young unmatriculated novices at first comming with the most intellective abstractions of Logick & metaphysicks.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. vii. 130 As to Ideas, Entities, Abstractions and Transcendentals, I could never drive the least Conception into their Heads.
1775 E. Burke Speech Resol. for Concil. Colonies 16 Abstract Liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object.
1818 W. Hazlitt Lect. Eng. Poets (1870) ii. 44 Death is a mighty abstraction, like Night, or Space, or Time.
1850 W. E. Gladstone Remarks Royal Supremacy 33 Laws are abstractions until they are put into execution.
1851 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848 i. 4 They can see nothing in it, save only an idle, chimerical abstraction.
1878 G. A. Simcox in Academy 605/3 Science, strictly speaking, is an abstraction, and is not and never can be adequate to the whole, even of our experience.
1912 B. Russell Probl. Philos. xi. 177 Only those who are practised in dealing with abstractions can readily grasp a general principle without the help of instances.
1957 S. Plath Jrnl. 17 July (2000) 285 The worlds are bodied forth in my words, not stated in abstractions.
2005 L. Holford-Strevens Hist. Time p. iii Whether time is a fourth dimension of the universe or a reified abstraction, whether it is continuous or atomistic,..are for others to determine.
4. Chemistry. The separation or extraction of one substance from another, as by distillation. In later use also: the removal of an atom from a molecule or group.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > distillation
distillation1393
stilling1477
rectificationa1500
distilling1527
circulating1545
circulation1587
cohobation1605
abstraction1617
redistillation1639
cohobating1654
distillery1677
1617 J. Woodall Surgions Mate Termes 347 Subduction is an abstraction of iuyces, oyles, and other liquid matters downeward by percolation, filteration, and the like.
1773 W. Lewis tr. C. Neumann Chem. Wks. (ed. 2) II. 191 Two scruples and a haif of gross Oil..arose to the surface during the abstraction of the liquor.
1852 H. B. Jones & A. W. Hoffman Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 4) 447 It..is produced by the abstraction of the elements of water from acetone. It has received the name mesitilole.
1954 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 221 35 The first step is probably the abstraction of a chlorine atom from the monomer.
2000 W. Cabri & R. Di Fabio From Bench to Market ii. 42 A competitive hydrogen abstraction process from the solvent..occurred.
5. Lack of awareness of or concentration on what is happening around one; absence of mind; a state of mental preoccupation. Cf. abstractedness n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > abstraction, absent-mindedness > [noun]
amusement1663
reverie1690
abstractedness1705
absence1709
preoccupation1788
absentness1790
abstraction1791
absent-mindedness1845
misadvertence1870
not-thereness1902
la-la land1979
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1775 I. 464 As he [sc. Johnson] could neither see nor hear at such a distance from the stage, he was wrapped up in grave abstraction.
1848 L. Hunt Jar of Honey iii. 31 Sir Isaac Newton carried abstraction far enough, when he used a lady's finger for a tobacco-stopper.
1882 Ballou's Monthly Mag. May 463/2 In his fit of abstraction he had gone into the house on the next corner, instead of into his own.
1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 196 She chose, in her abstraction, portentously, and the girl serving thought her mad.
1948 A. Paton Cry, Beloved Country ii. iii. 144 He..read it through carefully. That done, he smoked again, lost in a deep abstraction.
1994 J. Krantz Lovers (1995) xxi. 515 Still lost in abstraction, he started up the steps to the door of the theater.
6.
a. Freedom from or absence of representational qualities; a style or method characterized by this freedom.
(a) In Fine Art, esp. in painting.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > abstractionism
abstraction1909
abstractionism1921
non-objectivism1936
non-objectivity1936
1909 Burlington Mag. Jan. 206/2 Now that realism, for the time at least, is exhausted, abstraction, of some sort has become a necessity.
1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow xii. 117 Soon, he says, there'll be just the blank canvas. That's the logical conclusion. Complete abstraction.
1948 R. O. Dunlop Understanding Pictures iv. 44 Cubism was a half-way house on the road to pure abstraction.
1988 Mod. Painters Autumn 13/1 There are immense possibilities for abstraction in sculpture.
2006 New Yorker 26 June 84/1 Some forms, such as abstraction and machine aesthetics, informed later art.
(b) In other arts, esp. music.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [noun] > work of art > qualities generally
decoruma1568
humoura1568
variety1597
strength1608
uniformity1625
barbarity1644
freedom1645
boldness1677
correctness1684
clinquant1711
unity1712
contrast1713
meretriciousness1727
airiness1734
pathos1739
chastity1760
vigour1774
prettyism1789
mannerism1803
serio-comic1805
actuality1812
largeness1824
local colour1829
subjectivitya1834
idealism1841
pastoralism1842
inartisticalitya1849
academicism1852
realism1856
colour contrast1858
crampedness1858
niggling1858
audacity1859
superreality1859
literalism1860
pseudo-classicism1861
sensationalism1862
sensationism1862
chocolate box1865
pseudo-classicality1867
academism1871
actualism1872
academicalism1874
ethos1875
terribilità1877
local colouring1881
neoclassicism1893
mass effect1902
attack1905
verismo1908
kitsch1921
abstraction1923
self-consciousness1932
surreality1936
tension1941
build-up1942
sprezzatura1957
1923 O. M. Sayler Our Amer. Theatre xvii. 212 When abstraction and expressionism finally found mouthpiece through O'Neill, the advance into new grounds was made much simpler.
1957 Billboard 13 Apr. 60/1 There are several compositions of each, freely arranged for legit winds and jazz horns in Talbert's unique stylistic combination of French impressionism, abstraction and ‘blowing’.
1994 Vibe Nov. 134 My favorite piece..is the opener, ‘Joys and Solos’, where Pei Sheng Shen is blowing mad loops of abstraction on a double-reed device from China known as the sona.
2009 Wire Apr. 81/1 Rather than moving out from folk fingerstyle towards musique concrète and other areas of abstraction, his playing bore the traces of having started out in places like post-punk and minimalism before migrating towards folk.
b. concrete. = abstract n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > abstractionism > work
abstraction1921
abstract1949
1921 L. Taft Mod. Tendencies Sculpt. i. 16 The effigy of Balzac comes as near to being an abstraction as seems possible in the art of sculpture.
1954 W. Lewis Demon of Progress i. vii. 29 It is usually those of very little talent who furnish the little crowds of people painting empty abstractions.
1972 M. Shadbolt Strangers & Journeys xx. 429 The paintings were not, after all, abstractions. They were landscapes, more or less.
2001 N.Y. Times 9 Dec. ii. 41/1 I was painting mushy abstractions with tons of paint.
Compounds
abstraction-monger n. depreciative a scholar, thinker, etc., who shows a preference for abstract concepts over practical judgements or empirical facts.
ΚΠ
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (1984) II. 426 Some..of the words marked by Eichhorn are far from peculiar to the Wisd. of Sol.—as νoερoν, a favourite word with the Alexandrine Abstraction-mongers.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics II. viii. viii. 97 His philosophy is never that of the abstraction-monger.
1985 S. Lukes tr. H. Bergson in Emile Durkheim (new ed.) i. ii. 52 I have always thought that he would be an abstraction-monger.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1450