abigeat

See also: abigéat

English

WOTD – 25 October 2009

Etymology

From Latin abigeatus, from the verb ab agō (“to drive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈbɪd͡ʒi.ət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

abigeat (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Theft of cattle by driving it away with the intention of feloniously appropriating it.
   • 1676 [published 1848], John Lauder, Historical Notices of Scotish Affairs, T. Constable, vol 1., page 101:

     But the driving away of goods, or taking away, and detaining, another mans boat, without violence, by the number of 10 preſent, is a wrong, unwarrantable, and oppreſſive act, and a ſort of abigeat and thift, but is not properly a ryot […]

   • 1906, International Bureau of the American Republics, Monthly bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics, General Treaty of Peace and Amity, Arbitration, Commerce, etc., Concluded between the Republics of Costa Rica, Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, page 1167:

     The contracting Republics [...] do hereby agree, reciprocally, to surrender persons [...] having committed [...] any of the following crimes, to wit: homicide, [...] abigeat (cattle stealing), [...] and, in general, any crime or offense

   • 1968, Jim Dine, The poet assassinated, translation of Le poète assassiné by Guillaume Apollinaire, published 1916, page 26:

     The shepherds of the Golden Age let their flocks out to pasture without fearing the abigeat, they feared only the wild beasts.

Synonyms

• (theft of cattle): cattle-rustling

Translations

theft of cattle

• Finnish: karjavarkaus
• French: abigéat (fr) m
• German: Viehdieb (de) m
• Italian: abigeato (it) m
• Portuguese: abigeato (pt) m
• Spanish: abigeato (es) m, cuatrero (es)

See also

• abactor
• rustle

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.bi.ʒe.a/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

abigeat m (plural abigeats)

1. (law, historical, archaic) Alternative form of abigéat

Further reading

• “abigeat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tabagie