Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Abstinence

ABSTINENCE, the act or habit of refraining from something to which we have a propensity, or in which we find pleasure; but it is more particularly applied to the privation or sparing use of food. Abstinence has been enjoined and practiced for various ends, as sanitary, moral, or religious. Abstinence of flesh on certain days is obligatory in the Roman Catholic Church.

Source: Collier's New Encyclopedia 1. (1921) New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company. 12.