abortion

Etymology

From Latin abortiōnem (“miscarriage, abortion”), from aborior (“to miscarry”). Equivalent to abort + -ion. Displaced native Old English ǣwyrp (literally “throwing out, rejection”).

noun

1. (medicine) The expulsion from the womb of a foetus or embryo before it is fully developed, with loss of the foetus; either naturally as a spontaneous abortion (now usually called a miscarriage), or deliberately as an induced abortion.
   Mary decided to have an abortion because she was too young to raise a baby.
   At any time after impregnation, abortion may take place: it is one of the most common complaints of pregnancy, whence it is a matter of no small consequence that every practitioner should well understand it. 1809, William Nicholson, The British Encyclopaedia, volume IV
   It is impossible for an abortion clinic to have a waiting list of more than nine months. 1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 93
   The story of Ms. He and her mother began in the early 1960s, shortly before the Cultural Revolution shook China. Her young parents, who worked in a pottery factory in Rongchang in present-day Chongqing municipality, conceived her while unmarried. “They were told by the factory, ‘Have an abortion or be fired’,” she said. They chose to keep her and were fired. JANUARY 20, 2014, Didi Kirsten Tatlow, “‘She. Herself. Naked.': The Art of He Chengyao”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-16, Sinosphere
   Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania will resign from Congress after claims that the anti-abortion Republican had urged a woman he was having an extramarital affair with to have an abortion. 5 October 2017, Ben Jacobs, The Guardian
2. (now rare) An aborted foetus; an abortus.
   ‘It seems too hairy for an abortion, and too small for a mature birth.’ 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 657
   The Fascist poem, one may fear, will be a horrid little abortion such as one sees in a glass jar in the museum of some county town. 1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
3. (figurative) A misshapen person or thing; a monstrosity.
   Insomuch that I do honestly believe, there can be no place in the world, where such intolerable abortions, begotten of the sculptor’s chisel, are to be found in such profusion, as in Rome. 1846, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in Pictures from Italy
   His voice was the most pitiable abortion of a voice I had ever heard. 1889, Edward Bellamy, “To Whom This May Come”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, New York, page 459, column 2
   Dickey on his own manages to turn a simple bo diddley 1-2-3-4 into an absolute abortion of a song. 2000, Jules, “please dont buy beacon cd”, in alt.fan.allman-brothers (Usenet)
   an absolute abortion of a book 2003, David Kerekes, Headpress 24: Powered by Love, page 133
4. (figurative) Failure or abandonment of a project, promise, goal etc.
   The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. 1800-09-23, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush))
   The transfer or loss of the project manager before the project is completed will result in lost continuity and delay or the abortion of the project and/or the report. 2013, Fakhry A. Assaad, James W. LaMoreaux, Travis Hughes, Field Methods for Geologists and Hydrogeologists, page 314
   […] the abrupt abortion of the trip after eleven days. 2015, Gabriele Brandstetter, Poetics of Dance: Body, Image, and Space, page 73
5. (biology) Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.
6. The cessation of an illness or disease at a very early stage.