English

Adjective

abstemious ‎(comparative more abstemious, superlative most abstemious)

1. Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. [First attested in the mid 17^th century.]^[1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), John Arbuthnot, (Please provide the title of the work):

     Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious

   • (Can we date this quote?), John Milton, (Please provide the title of the work):

     Under his special eye Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 28, in The Moon and Sixpence:

     In the dimness of the landing I could not see him very well, but there was something in his voice that surprised me. I knew he was of abstemious habit or I should have thought he had been drinking.

2. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation. [First attested in the mid 17^th century.]^[1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Edward Gibbon, (Please provide the title of the work):

     an abstemious diet

3. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence; as, an abstemious life.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Alexander Pope, (Please provide the title of the work):

     One abstemious day.

   • 1826, Mary Shelley, chapter 5, in The Last Man:

     […] when I, abstemious naturally, and rendered so by the fever that preyed on me, was forced to recruit myself with food.

4. (rare) Promotive of abstemiousness.
   • (Can we date this quote?), John Dryden, (Please provide the title of the work):

     Such is the virtue of the abstemious well.

   • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:abstemious.

Synonyms

• abstentious, abstinent, continent, self-abnegating, self-denying, sober, temperate

Derived terms

• abstemiousness
• unabstemious

Translations

References

1. 1 2 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 9