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abut

[uh-buht]
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verb (used without object), a·but·ted, a·but·ting.
  1. to be adjacent; touch or join at the edge or border (often followed by on, upon, or against): This piece of land abuts on a street.
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verb (used with object), a·but·ted, a·but·ting.
  1. to be adjacent to; border on; end at.
  2. to support by an abutment.
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Origin of abut

1425–75; late Middle English < Middle French, Old French abuter touch at one end, verbal derivative of a but to (the) end; see a-5, butt2
Related formsun·a·but·ting, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

adjoinjoinneighbor

Examples from the Web for abutted

Historical Examples

  • The cottage that abutted on the churchyard was empty, and no other house stood near.

    Howards End

    E. M. Forster

  • Opening the door that abutted on to a field beyond, he bade Hogan mount.

    The Tavern Knight

    Rafael Sabatini

  • At length they paused in front of a chapel that abutted close on to the street.

    Her Benny

    Silas Kitto Hocking

  • As he said this we were passing a house the long whitewashed front of which abutted glimmering on the road.

    The Adventures of Harry Revel

    Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

  • At that moment Napoleon, in a round hat and plain citizen's cloak, turned out of the alley which abutted on the terrace.

British Dictionary definitions for abutted

abut

verb abuts, abutting or abutted
  1. (usually foll by on, upon, or against) to adjoin, touch, or border on (something) at one end
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Word Origin

C15: from Old French abouter to join at the ends, border on; influenced by abuter to touch at an end, buttress
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for abutted

abut

v.

mid-13c., "to end at, to border on," from Old French aboter "join end to end, touch upon" (13c.), from à "to" (see ad-) + bout "end" (see butt (n.3)). Related: Abutted; abutting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper