ABSTINENCE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Abstinence

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/ˈæbstənəns/ Listen

noun

Abstinence n.

The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, called also total abstinence. "The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one."

The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat. "Penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offense."

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Etymology of 'Abstinence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abstinence" Quotes from Famous Books

... twelve years there has been a temperance organization centering at Berea. By personal canvass it has secured signers to the total abstinence pledge, until the aggregate number is between two thousand ...

— The American Missionary -- Vol. 44, No. 4, April, 1890 • Various

... plausible that a number of persons have coincided with him. Cowan says the efficacy of the treatment has been established in many instances, a fact that he can prove by ample testimony. During his long abstinence from food he had numerous letters and telegrams from Dr. Dewey, encouraging him in the undertaking. When asked why he had fasted, Cowan explained that for years he had suffered from chronic nasal and ...

— The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-Cure • Edward Hooker Dewey

... morality among vaudeville performers is laxer than among any other set of persons. It's an absolutely false assumption. A performer above the average, who must always be at the very height of his powers, has to practise moderation to the point of abstinence if he wants to remain on top. Does anybody suppose that a loose life is compatible with those startlingly bold feats that an acrobat does every day and tries to improve upon every day? Damn it! It's something to make your ordinary mortal marvel at. Why, to do any one of the many things we do, ...

— Atlantis • Gerhart Hauptmann

... evidently overflowed its banks more extensively than heretofore, and broad belts of reeds were visible on either side of it, on which the animals exclusively subsisted. Most of the natives had followed us, and their patience and abstinence surprised me exceedingly. Some of them had been more than twenty-four hours without food, and yet seemed as little disposed to seek it as ever. I really thought they expected me to supply their wants, but ...

— Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete • Charles Sturt

... that result from that admirable training of the intellect. Hence, up to the date of the introduction of the Universal Colour Bill, the Circles had not only held their own, but even increased their lead of the other classes by abstinence ...

— Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated) • Edwin A. Abbott

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