Absent

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Absent \Ab"sent\, a. [F., fr. absens, absentis, p. pr. of abesse
     to be away from; ab + esse to be. Cf. {Sooth}.]
     1. Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not
        present. "Expecting absent friends." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. Not existing; lacking; as, the part was rudimental or
        absent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded;
        preoccupied; as, an absent air.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What is commonly called an absent man is commonly
              either a very weak or a very affected man.
                                                    --Chesterfield.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: {Absent}, {Abstracted}.
  
     Usage: These words both imply a lack of attention to
            surrounding objects. We speak of a man as absent when
            his thoughts wander unconsciously from present scenes
            or topics of discourse; we speak of him as abstracted
            when his mind (usually for a brief period) is drawn
            off from present things by some weighty matter for
            reflection. Absence of mind is usually the result of
            loose habits of thought; abstraction commonly arises
            either from engrossing interests and cares, or from
            unfortunate habits of association.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Absent \Ab*sent"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Absented}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Absenting}.] [Cf. F. absenter.]
     1. To take or withdraw (one's self) to such a distance as to
        prevent intercourse; -- used with the reflexive pronoun.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              If after due summons any member absents himself, he
              is to be fined.                       --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To withhold from being present. [Obs.] "Go; for thy stay,
        not free, absents thee more." --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  absent
       adj 1: not in a specified place physically or mentally [ant: {present}]
       2: lost in thought; showing preoccupation; "an absent stare";
          "an absentminded professer"; "the scatty glancing quality
          of a hyperactive but unfocused intelligence" [syn: {absentminded},
           {abstracted}, {scatty}]
       v : go away or leave; "He absented himself" [syn: {remove}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  65 Moby Thesaurus words for "absent":
     absconded, absentminded, absorbed, abstracted, away, bemused,
     castle-building, daydreaming, daydreamy, deficient, deleted,
     departed, disappeared, distrait, dreaming, dreamy, drowsing,
     ecstatic, elsewhere, engrossed, faraway, forgetful, gone,
     half-awake, heedless, in a reverie, in the clouds, keep away from,
     lacking, lost, lost in thought, meditative, missing, mooning,
     moonraking, museful, musing, napping, no longer present, nodding,
     nonattendant, nonexistent, not found, not present, oblivious, off,
     omitted, out, out of sight, pensive, pipe-dreaming, preoccupied,
     rapt, somewhere else, stargazing, subtracted, taken away, taken up,
     transported, unconscious, vanished, wanting, withdraw from,
     woolgathering, wrapped in thought
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  ABSENT, adj.  Peculiarly exposed to the tooth of detraction; vilifed;
  hopelessly in the wrong; superseded in the consideration and affection
  of another.
  
      To men a man is but a mind.  Who cares
      What face he carries or what form he wears?
      But woman's body is the woman.  O,
      Stay thou, my sweetheart, and do never go,
      But heed the warning words the sage hath said:
      A woman absent is a woman dead.
                                                              Jogo Tyree