Dictionaries :: Abstain, Abstinence

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Abstain, Abstinence:

"to hold oneself from" (apo, "from," echomai, the Middle Voice of echo, "to have," i.e., to keep oneself from), in the NT, invariably refers to evil practices, moral and ceremonial, Act 15:20, 29; 1Th 4:3; 5:22; 1Ti 4:3; 1Pe 2:11; so in the Sept. in Job 1:1; 2:3.
See ENOUGH, RECEIVE.

Note: The noun "abstinence" in Act 27:21, AV, translates asitia, "without food," RV (a, negative, sitos, "food"). Cp. asitos, "fasting," Act 27:33.