Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Abyss

Abyss ({not transcribed}) , noun

[Latin abyssus a bottomless gulf, from Greek {not transcribed} bottomless; 'a priv. + {not transcribed} depth, bottom.]

1.
A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.
Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss. — Milton
The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light. — Dryden
2.
Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.
The abysses of metaphysical theology. — Macaulay
In unfathomable abysses of disgrace. — Burke
3.
(Heraldry) The center of an escutcheon.

This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished.