Abortion

Abortion
Abortion A*bor"tion ([.a]*b[^o]r"sh[u^]n), n. [L. abortio, fr. aboriri. See {Abort}.] 1. The act of giving premature birth; particularly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage. [1913 Webster]

2. The immature product of an untimely birth; a fetus which has been delivered prematurely due to spontaneous or voluntary abortion, and is dead. [1913 Webster +PJC]

3. (Biol.) Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed. [1913 Webster]

4. Any fruit or produce that does not come to maturity, or anything which in its progress, before it is matured or perfect; a complete failure; as, his attempt proved an abortion. [1913 Webster]

5. the removal of a fetus from the womb prior to normal delivery in a manner such as to cause the death of the fetus; also called {voluntary abortion}, or when performed by a physician, {therapeutic abortion}. [PJC]

Note: In the 1913 Webster there was the following note appended to sense 1: [hand] It is sometimes used for the offense of procuring a premature delivery, but strictly the early delivery is the abortion, ``causing or procuring abortion'' is the full name of the offense. --Abbott. [PJC]

6. something considered to be a repulsive or monstrous variant of a normal object; a monstrosity. [PJC]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • ABORTION — is defined as the artificial termination of a woman s pregnancy. In the Biblical Period A monetary penalty was imposed for causing abortion of a woman s fetus in the course of a quarrel, and the penalty of   death if the woman s own death… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Abortion — • Briefly defined as the loss of a fetal life. Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Abortion     Abortion     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • abortion — abor·tion /ə bȯr shən/ n 1: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus; esp: the medical procedure of inducing expulsion of a human fetus to terminate a pregnancy 2: the crime of …   Law dictionary

  • abortion — (n.) 1540s, from L. abortionem (nom. abortio) miscarriage, abortion, noun of action from pp. stem of aboriri (see ABORTIVE (Cf. abortive)). Earlier noun in English was simple abort (early 15c.). Originally of both deliberate and unintended… …   Etymology dictionary

  • abortion — ⇒ABORTION, subst. fém. MÉDECINE 1. Thérapeutique par laquelle s interrompt avant son terme le processus habituel d une maladie évolutive : • 1. Quand le malade, cas ordinaire, n est pris en traitement que 4, 6, 8 jours après le début, il n y a… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • abortion — abortion, miscarriage denote the premature expulsion of a fetus before it is capable of living independently. Abortion may connote purposeful induction of the process either illicitly in order to avoid childbearing or therapeutically to protect… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • abortion — [n1] expulsion of fetus aborticide, feticide, misbirth, miscarriage, termination; concepts 230,699 abortion [n2] failure disappointment, disaster, fiasco, misadventure, premature delivery; concepts 304,308,674 Ant. continuation, success …   New thesaurus

  • abortion — ► NOUN 1) the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. 2) the natural expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently. 3) informal, derogatory something imperfectly planned or made. DERIVATIVES abortionist noun… …   English terms dictionary

  • abortion — [ə bôr′shən] n. [L abortio: see ABORT] 1. a) any spontaneous expulsion of an embryo or a fetus before it is sufficiently developed to survive; miscarriage b) any deliberate procedure that removes, or induces the expulsion of, a living or dead… …   English World dictionary

  • Abortion — Induced abortion Classification and external resources ICD 10 O04 …   Wikipedia

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