/euh bis"/ , n.
1. a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm.
2. anything profound, unfathomable, or infinite: the abyss of time.
3. (in ancient cosmogony)
a. the primal chaos before Creation.
b. the infernal regions; hell.
c. a subterranean ocean.
[ 1350-1400; earlier abisse, ME abissus abyssus ábyssos bottomless, equiv. to a- A- 6 + byssós bottom of the sea ]