Verb

(en verb)

Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

* Bible, (w) i. 68

[God] hath visited and redeemed his people.

* 1611 , Bible , Authorized (King James) Version, (w) I.6:

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

(intransitive) To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.

* 1788 , (Edward Gibbon), (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) , volume 68:

Her life was spared by the clemency of the emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace.

Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).

* 1890 , (James George Frazer), (The Golden Bough) :

There used to be a sharp contest as to where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with death that year.

To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) (on) or (upon) someone.

* 2011 , John Mullan, The Guardian , 2 Dec 2011:

If this were an Ibsen play, we would be thinking of the sins of one generation being visited upon another, he said.

To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.

* , chapter=19

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}

Verb

(en verb)

(intransitive, reflexive, archaic) To hide, to be in hiding or concealment.

* 1691-1735 , (John Ray), The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation [http://books.google.com/books?id=rRI5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA300&dq=intitle:works+of+creation+inauthor:ray&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mpnNUZHMJ4Pu0gGZo4GICw&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=absconds&f=false]

the Marmotto , live upon its own Fat.

(reflexive) To flee, often secretly; to steal away, particularly to avoid arrest or prosecution.

* 1848 , (Thomas Babington Macaulay), , Ch. 13

... that very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond at the risk of stripes and of death.

* 1911 , (Ambrose Bierce), (w, The Devil's Dictionary)

Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond .

To withdraw from.

* 2006 , Richard Rojcewicz, The Gods And Technology: A Reading Of Heidegger , ISBN 0791482308.

Modern technology accompanies the absconding of the original attitude.

* 2009 , Sonia Brill, Relationships Without Anger , ISBN 144902789X.

You cannot abscond from the responsibility both you and your partner owe to this event, and that includes dealing with anger issues and any other emotional issues that come with it.

(obsolete) To conceal; to take away.

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(label) To evade, to hide or flee from.

The captain absconded his responsibility

* 2006 , Aldo E. Chircop, Olof Lindén, Places of Refuge for Ships , ISBN 900414952X.

If the distress situation is solved succesfully, the anonymous shipowner will reap the commercial benefit, if the situation ends in disaster, the shipowner will hide behind an anonymous post box in a foreign country and will abscond responsibility.

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