Refraining

2 definitions found

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

  Refrain \Re*frain"\ (r[-e]*fr[=a]n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     {Refrained} (-fr[=a]nd"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Refraining}.] [OE.
     refreinen, OF. refrener, F. refr['e]ner, fr. L. refrenare;
     influenced by OF. refraindre to restrain, moderate, fr. LL.
     refrangere, for L. refringere to break up, break (see
     {Refract}). L. refrenare is fr. pref. re- back + frenum


     bridle; cf. Skr. dh[.r] to hold.]
     1. To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed
        bounds; to curb; to govern.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His reason refraineth not his foul delight or
              talent.                               --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Refrain thy foot from their path.     --Prov. i. 15.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To abstain from. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no
              other counsel than to refrain cold drink. --Sir T.
                                                    Browne.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  63 Moby Thesaurus words for "refraining":
     Encratism, Friday, Lenten fare, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism,
     Rechabitism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism, abstainment,
     abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence, asceticism, avoidance,
     avoiding reaction, banyan day, celibacy, chastity, circumvention,
     continence, defense mechanism, dodge, duck, elusion, elusiveness,
     equivocation, escape, eschewal, evasion, evasive action,
     evasiveness, fast, fish day, forbearance, forestalling,
     forestallment, fruitarianism, getting around, gymnosophy, jink,
     nephalism, neutrality, nonintervention, noninvolvement,
     plain living, prevention, refrainment, sexual abstinence, shunning,
     shunting off, shy, sidestep, sidetracking, simple diet, slip,
     spare diet, teetotalism, the pledge, the runaround,
     total abstinence, vegetarianism, zigzag