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Meaning of ABB'E

 
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
\Ab"b['e]`\ ([.a]b"b[asl]`), n.[F. abb['e]. See {Abbot}.]
The French word answering to the English abbot, the head of
an abbey; but commonly a title of respect given in France to
every one vested with the ecclesiastical habit or dress.
Note: After the 16th century, the name was given, in social
      parlance, to candidates for some priory or abbey in the
      gift of the crown. Many of these aspirants became well
      known in literary and fashionable life. By further
      extension, the name came to be applied to unbeneficed
      secular ecclesiastics generally. --Littr['e].
 

 

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