abortive

Etymology

First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English, from Old French abortif, from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orior (“appear, be born, arise”).

adj

1. (obsolete) Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural.
   an abortive child
2. Coming to nothing; failing in its effect. .
   an abortive attempt
   […] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf. 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, published 1799
   The king in vain excused his hasty retreats and abortive enterprises 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella
3. (biology) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile.
   an abortive organ
   an abortive stamen
   an abortive ovule
4. (medicine, pharmacology, rare) Causing abortion; abortifacient.
   abortive medicines 1809, Bartholomew Parr, Medical Dictionary
5. (medicine) Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).
   abortive treatment of typhoid fever
6. (medicine, of a disease) Having a short and mild progression, without pronounced symptoms.
7. Made from the skin of a still-born animal.
   abortive vellum

noun

1. (obsolete) Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.
   Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog! 1592, Shakespeare, Richard III, I-iii
2. (obsolete) A fruitless effort.
3. (obsolete) A medicine that causes abortion, an abortifacient.
4. (obsolete) A medicine or treatment acting to halt or slow the progress of a disease.
   Naphthalin was praised by Rosbach as an abortive in typhoid fever; Kraemer in 1886, Wilcox in 1887, Sehwald in 1889 and Wolff of Philadelphia in 1891 confirmed Rosbach's observations. 1897-08-07, E. Viko, “On the Treatment of Typhoid Fever”, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 29, number 6, Chicago, Ill., →DOI, page 274

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cause an abortion; to render without fruit.