abrade

t. [Lat. abrado = to scrape away, to rub off: ab from, away, and rado = to scrape off, to touch in pa ing, to graze.] To rub down, to crumble or wear away by friction. 1. Geol. To rub away rocks by water, frost, or similar agencies. "Stones which lie underneath the glacier and are pushed along by it, sometimes adhere to the ice; and as the ma glides slowly along at the rate of a few inches or at the utmost two or three feet per day, abrade, groove, and polish the rock."-Lyell: Nan, of Geol., ch. xii. 2. Nant.; also Bot ., . To rub or wear away by friction. 3. Med. To produce a superficial excoriation, with lo of substance, under the form of small shreds, in the mucous membranes of the intestines; to tear off or fret the skin. "Instead of nourishing, it stimulates, abrades, and carries away part of the solids." -Miscellanies (1762). 4. Fig .: To wear away. "Nor deem it strange that rolling years abrade The social bias. Shenstone: Econ . , p. 1 *a-bra'de, adv . [ABROAD.] ab-rā-děd, ра . par . & a. [ABRADE.] "The abraded summits of the grinding teeth."Owen Fo il Mammals & Birds (1846). ab-rā-ding, pr. par. & s. [ABRADE.) As pr . par .: (See the verb). As substantive : 1. Geol. The rubbing down of rocks by frost or similar causes. 2. Agric. The abrading of earth is the causing it to crumble away through the action of frost.