The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Refrain \Re*frain"\ (r[-e]*fr[=a]n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   Refrained (-fr[=a]nd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refraining.] [OE.
   refreinen, OF. refrener, F. refr['e]ner, fr. L. refrenare;
   influenced by OF. refraindre to restrain, moderate, fr. LL.
   refrangere, for L. refringere to break up, break (see
   Refract). L. refrenare is fr. pref. re- back + frenum
   bridle; cf. Skr. dh[.r] to hold.]
   1. To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed
      bounds; to curb; to govern.
      [1913 Webster]

            His reason refraineth not his foul delight or
            talent.                               --Chaucer.
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            Refrain thy foot from their path.     --Prov. i. 15.
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   2. To abstain from. [Obs.]
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            Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no
            other counsel than to refrain cold drink. --Sir T.
                                                  Browne.
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Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

63 Moby Thesaurus words for "refraining":
   Encratism, Friday, Lenten fare, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism,
   Rechabitism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism, abstainment,
   abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence, asceticism, avoidance,
   avoiding reaction, banyan day, celibacy, chastity, circumvention,
   continence, defense mechanism, dodge, duck, elusion, elusiveness,
   equivocation, escape, eschewal, evasion, evasive action,
   evasiveness, fast, fish day, forbearance, forestalling,
   forestallment, fruitarianism, getting around, gymnosophy, jink,
   nephalism, neutrality, nonintervention, noninvolvement,
   plain living, prevention, refrainment, sexual abstinence, shunning,
   shunting off, shy, sidestep, sidetracking, simple diet, slip,
   spare diet, teetotalism, the pledge, the runaround,
   total abstinence, vegetarianism, zigzag