abyss Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively)
    abysm.
  2. verb make amends for
    atone; aby; expiate; abye.
    • expiate one's sins

WordNet

A*byss" noun
Etymology
L. abyssus a bottomless gulf, fr. Gr. bottomless; priv. + depth, bottom.
Definitions
  1. A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.
    Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss. Milton.
    The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light. Dryden.
  2. Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.
    The abysses of metaphysical theology. Macaulay.
    In unfathomable abysses of disgrace. Burke.
  3. (Her.) The center of an escutcheon. ✍ This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished. Encyc. Brit.

Webster 1913