abstemious

adj

1. Refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink; sparing in diet; abstinent, temperate.

   “It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.”

   “Under his ſpecial eie / Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; / He led me on to mightieſt deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies.”

   “In too great Repletion either the elaſtick Force of the Tube is totally deſtroy'd; or if it continue proportional to the Degree of Extenſion like a Bow too ſtrongly drawn, it throws the Fluid with too great a projectile Force forward through the Veſſels, and back upon the Heart, and ſubjects the Animal to all the Diſeaſes depending on a Plethory, and may bring it into immediate Danger. […] The Inſtances of Longevity are chiefly among the Abſtemious.”

   “[…] I, abstemious naturally, and rendered so by the fever that preyed on me, was forced to recruit myself with food.”

2. Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.

   “The Ms had an abstemious sex life; in fourteen years of marriage, they had had sex exactly six times. Mrs. M desired sex and more children, but her husband refused.”

3. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.

   “If the predisposition to the disease has arisen from a plethoric state of the system, or from a turgescence in the vessels of the head, this is to be obviated by bleeding, both generally and topically, but more particularly the latter; an abstemious diet and proper exercise; and by a seton in the neck.”

4. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.

   “an abstemious life”

   “If yet Achilles have a Friend, whoſe Care / Is bent to pleaſe him; this Requeſt forbear: / Till yonder Sun deſcend, ah let me pay / To Grief and Anguiſh one abſtemious Day.”

5. (rare)Promotive of abstemiousness.

   “But ſtranger Virtues yet in Streams we find, / Some change not only Bodies, but the Mind: / […] Clytorian Streams the love of Wine expel, / (Such is the virtue of th' abſtemious Well;) […]”