abstain

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The Word of the Day for March 15 is: 

abstain   \ub-STAYN\   verb
     : to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an 
action or practice 

Example sentence:
     It is now recommended that pregnant women abstain from alcohol and certain 
medications until after delivery.

Did you know?
     If you "abstain," you're consciously and usually with effort choosing to 
"hold back" from doing something that you would like to do. So it's no surprise 
that "abstain" traces back through Middle English and Anglo-French to the Latin 
"abstinere," which combines the prefix "ab-" ("from, away, off") with "tenere," 
a Latin verb meaning "to hold." "Tenere" has many offspring in English -- other 
descendants include "contain," "detain," "maintain," 
"obtain," "pertain," "retain," and "sustain," as well as some words that don't 
end in "-tain," such as "tenacious." 
"Abstain," like many of its cousins, has been used by English speakers since at 
least the 14th century.





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