Webster's English Dictionary

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abyss

abyss \*-'bis\ n [ME abissus, fr. LL abyssus, fr. Gk abyssos, fr. abyssosX 
   bottomless, fr. a- + byssos depth; akin to Gk bathys deep - more at BATHY- 
   1: the bottomless gulf, pit, or chaos of the old cosmogonies  2a: an 
   immeasurably deep gulf or great space  2b: intellectual or spiritual 
   profundity; also : vast moral depravi ty