Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/386

keep out the influx of the tides be an abat-eau?

I soon found other similar compound nouns, which strengthened my conviction that here at last is a perfectly satisfactory solution of the question in regard to the orthography of the word we are discussing. Let us examine the definitions and the applications of several of these compounds. Some of them are to be found in English as well as in French dictionaries, having everywhere the same senses, since they are distinct technical terms.

Abat-jour, which,—the t being often omitted, is also written abajour,—is thus comprehensively defined in the "Century Dictionary": " Any contrivance to admit light, or throw it in a desired direction, as a lamp-shade, a sky-light, a sloping, box-like structure, flaring upward and open at the top, attached to a window on the outside, to prevent those within from seeing objects below, or for the purpose of directing Tight downward into the window."

Abat-vent: Dr. Ogilvie's "Imperial Dictionary" gives this term as derived from abattre, to lower, and vent, the wind, and defines it as, "The sloping roof of a tower; a pent-house; so named because the slope neutralizes the force of the wind." The "Standard Dictionary's" definition is, "A device to break the force, or prevent the admission of wind; a series of slats with inclined faces, arranged vertically, with intervals between, as in a belfry window; a sloping roof; a chimney cowl."

Abat-vjix: In the "Imperial Dictionary " derived from abattre and voix, the voice; and defined as, "The sounding-board over a pulpit or rostrum; so named because it prevents the speaker's voice from rising and being lost or indistinct."

Abat-foin: In "Spiers and Surenne's" French dictionary, this is given as an agricultural term,