abet

Definition of abet

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

(transitive)To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.

“aid and abet”
“Those who would exalt themselves by abetting the strength of the Godless, and the wrength of the oppressors.”
“The Statute provides that whoever has been engaged in aiding, abetting, or assisting, directly or indirectly, is criminal.”
“In the matter of Treason the pig would appear / To have aided, but scarcely abetted: / While the charge of Insolvency fails, it is clear, If you grant the plea ‘never indebted.”
“The brief, a motion for summary judgment in a case stemming from Fox’s egregiously false claims of Dominion-abetted election fraud, offers a portrait of extravagant cynicism.”

See all 6 definitions

verb

(transitive)To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.

“aid and abet”
“Those who would exalt themselves by abetting the strength of the Godless, and the wrength of the oppressors.”
“The Statute provides that whoever has been engaged in aiding, abetting, or assisting, directly or indirectly, is criminal.”
“In the matter of Treason the pig would appear / To have aided, but scarcely abetted: / While the charge of Insolvency fails, it is clear, If you grant the plea ‘never indebted.”
“The brief, a motion for summary judgment in a case stemming from Fox’s egregiously false claims of Dominion-abetted election fraud, offers a portrait of extravagant cynicism.”
(transitive)To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).

“Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted.”
“The elements, however, abetted me in making a path through the deepest snow in the woods, for when I had once gone through the wind blew the oak leaves into my tracks, where they lodged, and by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow, and so not only made a dry bed for my feet, but in the night their dark line was my guide.”
“Later some of these artistic friends[…]abetted this ecclesiastical view in so far as they renounced pre-Raphaelism and learned to love the baroque; but that was an aesthetic fashion also, and corrupt,[…]”
“By the early Seventies, Playboy was selling seven million copies a month and Hefner's globe-trotting lifestyle was abetted by his private jet, the Big Bunny, that contained a circular bed, an inside disco and a wet bar.”
(obsolete, transitive)To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.
(obsolete)To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.

noun

(obsolete)Fraud or cunning.
(obsolete)An act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old…

See full etymology

From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old Norse beita (“to cause to bite, bait, incite”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to set dogs on; to feed”). Alternate etymology traces the Middle English and Old French words through Old English *ābǣtan (“to hound on”), from ā- + bǣtan (“to bait”), from the same source (Proto-Germanic *baitijaną). See also bait, bet.

Anagrams of abet

5 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play bate 6 points

Words you can make from abet

20 playable · top: BATE (6 pts)

Best play bate 6 points

4-letter words

2 words

3-letter words

9 words

2-letter words

8 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to abet to make another valid word.

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ABETS 7 pts