abyss : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: abyss	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for abyss
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
abyss n a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively) Synonym(s): abyss, abysm
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Abyss \Abyss"\, n. [L. abyssus a bottomless gulf, fr. Gr. [?] bottomless; 'a priv. + [?] depth, bottom.] 1. A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit. Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss. --Milton. The throne is darkness, in the abyss* of light. --Dryden. 2. Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth. The abysses of metaphysical theology. --Macaulay. In unfathomable abysses of disgrace. --Burke. 3. (Her.) The center of an escutcheon. Note: This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished. --Encyc. Brit.