Abade

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic term meaning to become less in strength, force, or intensity over time
2. An obsolete verb describing something that gradually lessens or subsides in degree
3. Old word for weakening or declining, as when a storm, pain, or anger slowly eases

Etymology: "Abade" is simply an obsolete spelling of "abode," and the story behind "abode" is more tangled than its modern sound suggests. Its main line of descent runs from Old English "ābād," a noun built on the verb "ābīdan," meaning "to abide," so an abode was originally a place where one stayed or waited. Scots kept a close cousin of the form, "abade" or "abaid," which shows the word was alive in more than one part of the British Isles. The other strand is surprising. Middle English "abeden" meant "to announce" or "to proclaim," descending from Old English "ābēodan," "to command" or "to proclaim," and it has nothing to do with staying put. Over time this verb was reshaped by association with "bode," meaning to presage or portend, so the two histories blurred together. Dictionaries therefore treat the modern noun as a single word with two possible ancestries, though the stay-in-place sense is the one that won out.