Definition of "abutment" []

• The act or process of abutting. (noun)
• Something that abuts. (noun)
• The point of contact of two abutting objects or parts. (noun)
• The part of a structure that bears the weight or pressure of an arch. (noun)
• A structure that supports the end of a bridge. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It's an abutment from a bridge that was put up to go over the Don Valley."
• "The January 2009 scare showed engineers that something was happening inside the abutment, which is part of an ancient landslide that fell off McDonald Ridge above the dam."
• "It's called the abutment, and will protrude above the gums to hold the porcelain tooth."