absit

noun

1. (UK)Formal permission to be away from a college for the greater part of the day or more.

   “In the evening, after some difficulty, he persuaded his tutor to give him an absit to sleep at Huntingdon that night, and drove over there after dinner in a fly with Egerton, Castleton, and Grey.”

   “Another associated matter was the subject of a discussion, on one occasion only, on the effect of an absit on a student's residence if he used it to be away from Cambridge from Saturday to Monday 'as is allowed at at least one College'.”

   “An exeat was needed to be away for the night and, in theory at least, an absit for the greater part of the day.”

   “The following week he wrot her. 'It is a most shameful thing that he should keep me on like this...I am awfully cross because now I am not able to come home for an absit [overnight leave] on Thursday which I very much wanted to do.'”

2. A portion of fermenting dough diluted to a paste with water and then cooked.

   “A portion of the fermented paste may be mixed with three parts of water and boiled, resulting in an absit.”

   “The cooking gelatinizes the starch and makes the absit viscous.”

   “An absit is not made, and the baking is carried out on an open hotplate.”