Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Abject
Ab′ject, a. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.] 1. Cast down; low-lying. [Obs.]
From the safe shore their floating carcasses And broken chariot wheels; so thick bestrown Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood. Milton.
2. Sunk to a law condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts. "Base and abject flatterers." Addison. "An abject liar." Macaulay.
And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams. Shak.
Syn. — Mean; groveling; cringing; mean-spirited; slavish; ignoble; worthless; vile; beggarly; contemptible; degraded.
Ab·ject′, v. t. [From Abject, a.] To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. [Obs.] Donne.
Ab′ject, n. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway. [Obs.]
Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure? I. Taylor.