Etymology Borrowed from Latin absit (“let (him or her) be absent”), the third-person singular present active subjunctive of absum (“be absent”).
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UK Formal permission to be away from a college for the greater part of the day or more.
In the evening, after some difficulty, he persuaded his tutor to give him an absit to sleep at Huntingdon that night, and drove over there after dinner in a fly with Egerton, Castleton, and Grey.1868, George Charles L. Tottenham, Charlie Villars at Cambridge, page 198:
Another associated matter was the subject of a discussion, on one occasion only, on the effect of an absit on a student's residence if he used it to be away from Cambridge from Saturday to Monday 'as is allowed at at least one College'.1983, W. W. Grave, Fitzwilliam College Cambridge, 1869-1969, page 53:
2 more examples
An exeat was needed to be away for the night and, in theory at least, an absit for the greater part of the day.1992, Eric Lionel Mascall, Saraband: The Memoirs of E.L. Mascall, →ISBN, page 56:
The following week he wrot her. 'It is a most shameful thing that he should keep me on like this...I am awfully cross because now I am not able to come home for an absit [overnight leave] on Thursday which I very much wanted to do.'2015, William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, →ISBN:
absit
noun
Etymology Borrowed from Amharic አብሲት (ʾäbsit, “proofing dough”).
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A portion of fermenting dough diluted to a paste with water and then cooked.
A portion of the fermented paste may be mixed with three parts of water and boiled, resulting in an absit.1987, Larry R. Beuchat, Food and Beverage Mycology, →ISBN, page 296:
The cooking gelatinizes the starch and makes the absit viscous.2011, Elke Arendt, Fabio Dal Bello, Gluten-Free Cereal Products and Beverages, →ISBN, page 135:
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An absit is not made, and the baking is carried out on an open hotplate.2012, S P Cauvain, Breadmaking: Improving Quality, →ISBN, page 764: