abba

Father; religious superior; in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches, a title given to the bishops, and by the bishops to the patriarch; a title given to Jewish scholars in the Talmudic period.

The abba of the coenobion went to him and told him about the brother who had slipped up.

Alternative form of aba (Middle Eastern garment).

The rich turbans and flowing robes of the respectable merchants are finely contrasted with the rude sheepskin covering of the mountaineer, and the dark abba of the wandering Arab.

Around their waist, instead of a shawl, they wear a girdle fastened with monstrous silver clasps which may be ornamented, according to the owner's taste, with jewels and in which they stick not only their Koordish dagger, but a pair of great brass or silver-knobbed pistols; from this, too, hang sundry powder-horns and shot-cases, cartridge-boxes, &c. ; and over all they cast a sort of cloak, or abba, of camel's hair, white or black, or striped white brown and black, clasped on the breast, and floating picturesquely behind.

Father, an honorific title given to God in the New Testament, especially used in prayers.

And because yee are sonnes, God hath sent foorth the spirit of his Sonne into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.