To plunge or sink into an abyss; to destroy utterly or reduce to ruin.
From Old French abisme, from Latin abyssus meaning 'abyss.' The word entered English in the 14th century and combines the prefix ab- (away from) with the concept of a bottomless pit.
This archaic word appears in medieval literature to describe catastrophic downfall, and it's the linguistic ancestor of the modern word 'abyss'—notice how both describe something so deep and dark you can't see the bottom.
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