Abyssinian

(redirected from Abyssinians)
Also found in: Thesaurus.

Ab·ys·sin·i·an

(ăb′ĭ-sĭn′ē-ən)

adj.

Of or relating to Abyssinia.

1. A native or inhabitant of Abyssinia.

2. A domestic cat of a slender breed developed in Britain, possibly from cats imported from northeast Africa, having a short coat, often golden brown, with hairs that have bands of lighter and darker color.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Abyssinian

(ˌæbɪˈsɪnɪən)

(Placename) a native or inhabitant of Abyssinia

adj

(Placename) of or relating to Abyssinia or its inhabitants

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

Abyssinian - a small slender short-haired breed of African origin having brownish fur with a reddish undercoat

Abyssinian cat

domestic cat, Felis catus, Felis domesticus, house cat - any domesticated member of the genus Felis

Translations

abyssinier

абиссинка абиссинский абиссинцы абиссинец

Abyssinian

[ˌæbɪˈsɪnɪən]

A. ADJ → abisinio

B. N → abisinio/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Abyssinian

adj attr → abessinisch

n → Abessinier(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

True to their instincts of precaution, a number of Abyssinians, acting under orders from Abdul Mourak, advanced stealthily through the jungle toward the author of the call.

With this idea always uppermost in his mind, he courted the good opinion of the Abyssinians, asked them many questions about their emperor and their country, and evinced a growing desire to reach their destination, that he might enjoy all the good things which they assured him the city of Adis Abeba contained.

The bottom of the river was gravelly, there was no indication of crocodiles, those menaces to promiscuous bathing in the rivers of certain portions of the dark continent, and so the Abyssinians took advantage of the opportunity to perform long-deferred, and much needed, ablutions.

View in context

The arms and ammunition of the Abyssinians are greatly inferior to ours, yet they are tremendously effective against the ill-armed barbarians of Europe.

The Abyssinians themselves are a fine looking race of black men--tall, muscular, with fine teeth, and regular features, which incline distinctly toward Semitic mold--I refer to the full-blooded natives of Abyssinia.

As his body servant, I accompanied him mounted upon a fiery little Abyssinian pony.

View in context

The manners and customs of the Abyssinians seemed so different from those of the English, that no one would credit the description of them.

View in context

The population of Jerusalem is composed of Moslems, Jews, Greeks, Latins, Armenians, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinians, Greek Catholics, and a handful of Protestants.

View in context

If the Portuguese were biassed by any particular views, another bias equally powerful may have deflected the Frenchman from the truth, for they evidently write with contrary designs: the Portuguese, to make their mission seem more necessary, endeavoured to place in the strongest light the differences between the Abyssinian and Roman Church; but the great Ludolfus, laying hold on the advantage, reduced these later writers to prove their conformity.

View in context

"Yes," said the pushmi-pullyu--"to the Abyssinian Gazelles and the Asiatic Chamois --on my mother's side.

View in context

He had been hoisted into a ship at the end of a steam crane and taken for days across the water, and made to carry a mortar on his back in a strange and rocky country very far from India, and had seen the Emperor Theodore lying dead in Magdala, and had come back again in the steamer entitled, so the soldiers said, to the Abyssinian War medal.

View in context

It was an Abyssinian or Nubian production of a bizarre shape; the clumsiest thing imaginable, partaking of a sickle and a chopper with a sharp edge and a pointed end.