abatir
to knock down
Reviewed by: David WestfallCofounder
To beat something down, whether a structure, a target, or someone's spirits
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
Abatir means to knock down, with a-0 giving a sense of direction to batir1. You're beating something in a particular direction: down toward the ground.
abatir
to knock down, to bring down, to demolish
To knock a standing thing to the ground, like a wall or a tree.
Abatieron el muro viejo en una sola mañanaThey knocked down the old wall in a single morning
El viento abatió varios árboles del parqueThe wind brought down several trees in the park
to shoot down, to bring down (with a weapon)
To knock down a moving target, such as an animal or an aircraft, by shooting it.
El cazador abatió al ciervo de un solo disparoThe hunter shot down the deer with a single shot
La defensa antiaérea abatió dos avionesThe air defense brought down two planes
to dishearten, to depress, to get down (spirits)
To knock a person's spirits down, leaving them low.
La noticia lo abatió por completoThe news completely disheartened him
No dejes que un fracaso te abataDon't let one failure get you down
abatirse
to swoop down, to descend (onto something)
To hurl yourself downward onto something, like a bird dropping on its prey. Instead of knocking a target down, you drive yourself down at it.
El águila se abatió sobre el conejoThe eagle swooped down on the rabbit
Una tormenta se abatió sobre la costaA storm descended on the coast
to become disheartened, to get discouraged (spirits)
To sink into low spirits, feeling knocked down. The reflexive means you're the one getting knocked down.
Se abatió al enterarse del resultadoHe became disheartened when he found out the result
No te abatas por un comentarioDon't get discouraged one comment