Definition of abase
abased;
abasing
transitive verb
1
formal
:to lower in rank, office, prestige, or esteem
- abase oneself
- … the shame that had abased him within and without …
- —James Joyce
2
archaic
:to lower physically
- As we enter among them the great elephant makes us a bow in the best style of elephantine courtesy, bending lowly down his mountain bulk, with trunk abased and leg thrust out behind.
- —Nathaniel Hawthorne
