Ab"ject (&?;), a. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.] 1. Cast down; low- lying. [Obs.]

From the safe shore their floating carcasses
And broken chariot wheels; so thick bestrown
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood.
Milton.

2. Sunk to a law condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts. "Base and abject flatterers." Addison. "An abject liar." Macaulay.

And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams.
Shak.

Syn. -- Mean; groveling; cringing; mean-spirited; slavish; ignoble; worthless; vile; beggarly; contemptible; degraded.

Ab*ject" (&?;), v. t. [From Abject, a.] To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. [Obs.] Donne.

Ab"ject (&?;), n. A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway. [Obs.]

Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure?
I. Taylor.

• (obsolete) A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway.
        Shall these abjects, these victims, these outcasts, know any thing of pleasure? - I. Taylor
  
• (obsolete) Cast down; low-lying.
       
• So thick bestrown abject and lost lay these, covering the flood. - Milton
  
• Sunk to a low condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts.
       
• Base and abject flatterers. - Addison
       
• An abject liar. - Macaulay
       
• And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams. - Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I-ii
       
• He sat obediently with that tentative and abject eagerness of a man who has but one pleasure left and whom the world can reach only through one sense, for he was both blind and deaf. - 1931 Faulkner, Sanctuary, ii
  
• (transitive) (obsolete) To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase.