What is "to abate a tax"

Abate \A*bate"\ ([.a]*b[=a]t"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abated, p. pr. & vb. n. Abating.] [OF. abatre to beat down, F. abattre, LL. abatere; ab or ad + batere, battere (popular form for L. batuere to beat). Cf. Bate, Batter.]

1. To beat down; to overthrow. [Obs.]

   The King of Scots . . . sore abated the walls.
   --Edw. Hall.

2. To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope.

   His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
   --Deut. xxxiv. 7.

3. To deduct; to omit; as, to abate something from a price.

   Nine thousand parishes, abating the odd hundreds.
   --Fuller.

4. To blunt. [Obs.]

   To abate the edge of envy.
   --Bacon.

5. To reduce in estimation; to deprive. [Obs.]

   She hath abated me of half my train.
   --Shak.

6. (Law)

   1. To bring entirely down or put an end to; to do away with; as, to abate a nuisance, to abate a writ.

   2. (Eng. Law) To diminish; to reduce. Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.

      To abate a tax, to remit it either wholly or in part.