abet

1. (transitive, crime) To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.Examples: "aid and abet"; "Those who would exalt themselves by abetting the strength of the Godless, and the wrength of the oppressors."; "The Statute provides that whoever has been engaged in aiding, abetting, or assisting, directly or indirectly, is criminal."Synonyms: collude, conspire, connivetransitive

2. (transitive) To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).Examples: "Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted."; "The elements, however, abetted me in making a path through the deepest snow in the woods, for when I had once gone through the wind blew the oak leaves into my tracks, where they lodged, and by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow, and so not only made a dry bed for my feet, but in the night their dark line was my guide."; "Later some of these artistic friends[…]abetted this ecclesiastical view in so far as they renounced pre-Raphaelism and learned to love the baroque; but that was an aesthetic fashion also, and corrupt,[…]"Synonyms: approve, patronize, sanction, support, toleratetransitive

3. (obsolete, transitive) To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.Synonyms: instigate, foment, encourage, support, abet, actuate, goose, sendAntonyms: baffle, confound, counteract, denounce, deter, abet, assist, expediteobsoletetransitive

4. (obsolete) To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.obsolete