 5 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
absent
adjective
1: not in a specified place physically or mentally [ant: {present}]
2: lost in thought; showing preoccupation; "an absent stare";
"an absentminded professer"; "the scatty glancing quality
of a hyperactive but unfocused intelligence" [syn: {absentminded},
{abstracted}, {scatty}]
verb: go away or leave; "He absented himself" [syn: {remove}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Absent \Ab*sent"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Absented}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Absenting}.] [Cf. F. absenter.]
1. To take or withdraw (one's self) to such a distance as to
prevent intercourse; -- used with the reflexive pronoun.
If after due summons any member absents himself, he
is to be fined. --Addison.
2. To withhold from being present. [Obs.] ''Go; for thy stay,
not free, absents thee more.'' --Milton.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Absent \Ab"sent\, adjective [F., fr. absens, absentis, p. pr. of abesse
to be away from; ab + esse to be. Cf. {Sooth}.]
1. Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not
present. ''Expecting absent friends.'' --Shak.
2. Not existing; lacking; as, the part was rudimental or
absent.
3. Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded;
preoccupied; as, an absent air.
What is commonly called an absent man is commonly
either a very weak or a very affected man.
--Chesterfield.
Syn: {Absent}, {Abstracted}.
Usage: These words both imply a lack of attention to
surrounding objects. We speak of a man as absent when
his thoughts wander unconsciously from present scenes
or topics of discourse; we speak of him as abstracted
when his mind (usually for a brief period) is drawn
off from present things by some weighty matter for
reflection. Absence of mind is usually the result of
loose habits of thought; abstraction commonly arises
either from engrossing interests and cares, or from
unfortunate habits of association.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
65 Moby Thesaurus words for "absent":
absconded, absentminded, absorbed, abstracted, away, bemused,
castle-building, daydreaming, daydreamy, deficient, deleted,
departed, disappeared, distrait, dreaming, dreamy, drowsing,
ecstatic, elsewhere, engrossed, faraway, forgetful, gone,
half-awake, heedless, in a reverie, in the clouds, keep away from,
lacking, lost, lost in thought, meditative, missing, mooning,
moonraking, museful, musing, napping, no longer present, nodding,
nonattendant, nonexistent, not found, not present, oblivious, off,
omitted, out, out of sight, pensive, pipe-dreaming, preoccupied,
rapt, somewhere else, stargazing, subtracted, taken away, taken up,
transported, unconscious, vanished, wanting, withdraw from,
woolgathering, wrapped in thought
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
ABSENT, adjective Peculiarly exposed to the tooth of detraction; vilifed;
hopelessly in the wrong; superseded in the consideration and affection
of another.
To men a man is but a mind. Who cares
What face he carries or what form he wears?
But woman's body is the woman. O,
Stay thou, my sweetheart, and do never go,
But heed the warning words the sage hath said:
A woman absent is a woman dead.
Jogo Tyree
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