abortn.
/əˈbɔːt/, U.S. /əˈbɔrt/ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of pregnancy or birth > [noun] > miscarriage
abort?a1425
abortion?1537
aborsement1540
miscarrying1568
abortive1587
abortment1595
miscarriage1615
amblosis1706
efflux1754
abortus1764
mc1956
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 159v (MED) Or when þe materie is makynge aborte i. castyng childe [L. faciens aborsum].
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. iv. vi. 209 In Iaponia t'is a common thing to stifle their children if they be poore, or to make an abort.
a1639 H. Wotton Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1672) 241 Julia, a little before dying of an abort in childbed.
1656 J. Trapp Comm. New Test. (ed. 2) (2 Tim. i. 15) 843 These stars fell from heaven, as fast as the fig-tree makes abort, with any never so light and gentle a wind.
2. An aborted fetus (= abortus n. 1); the product of a miscarriage. Also (now only) in extended and figurative use: something badly or incompletely conceived or executed. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [noun] > dead child > still-born child
abortivea1382
abort1578
dead-birth1676
still1864
still-born1913
still-birth1963
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man i. f. 14 He had occasion to search in children that neuer were extract, or brought to light, as also in Abortes.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 140 False births, unkinde or strange aborts.
1654 S. Hartlib True & Readie Way to learn Latine Tongue 34 There will arise..nothing but Germanismes, Soloecismes, Barbarismes, aborts, disgraces, discredits, and basenesses of the Latine speech.
1671 W. Salmon Synopsis Medicinæ ii. xlv. 306 Lest the Child, for want of Nutriment, prove an Abort.
1692 W. Salmon Medicina Practica iii. xlii. 599/2 It becomes like an Abort, or the unripe Fruit of the Womb.
1743 R. James Medicinal Dict. I. sig. I2/2 We many times perceive no Fœtus in these sorts of False conceptions, because of the extreme minuteness and softness of these little Aborts.
1961 W. H. G. Armytage Heavens Below iv. vii. 383 The suburban aborts known as the garden suburbs.
3. Originally Aeronautics. A mission, procedure, or enterprise that is abandoned or curtailed before it has achieved its intended effect; the abandonment or curtailment of a mission, procedure, or enterprise; the cancellation or termination of an uncompleted computer program or other technical process.
ΚΠ
1954 Jrnl. Operations Res. Soc. Amer. 2 10 The actual figures were used from World War II campaigns for forces dispatched, aborts, losses to enemy aircraft and ground fire, operational losses, [etc.].
1960 Times 18 Oct. 13/6 A thing which detects errors in the interiors of missiles is now known as ‘abort sensory equipment’.
1966 Jrnl. Marketing Res. 3 124/2 The marketing manager is usually reluctant to accept the existence of a problem, or even worse, an abort situation even before the goal period has been reached.
1988 Byte June 176/2 Another bug resulted in several aborts with core dumps when I pressed PageUp.
1991 F. Forsyth Deceiver (BNC) (1992) 74 He had told him to..allow no more than twenty-five minutes if Smolensk failed to show up. That would count as an abort.
2003 Jrnl. Mil. Hist. 67 213 The recommendation in favor of an abort was relayed by General Vaught to the White House.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
abortv.
/əˈbɔːt/, U.S. /əˈbɔrt/α. 1500s abhort, 1500s aborte, 1500s aborte (past participle), 1500s obort, 1500s– abort.
β. 1500s abhorce, 1500s abhorse.
1.
a. intransitive. Of a pregnant woman or animal: to expel an embryo or fetus from the uterus, esp. before it is viable; to suffer a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage. Cf. miscarry v. 4b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of pregnancy or birth > have or cause pregnancy or birth disorder [verb (intransitive)] > miscarry
abort1540
miscarry1560
to slip (cast) the calf1664
to slip her filly1665
1540 R. Jonas tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. viii. f. 42 As hypocrates sayth: The pregnant woman which hath tenasmum, for the moste parte aborteth [L. abortit].
1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Avorter, to abort, or when a woman goeth not hir full time.
a1648 Ld. Herbert Life Henry VIII (1649) 403 Queen Anne (now with child again, whereof yet she aborted).
1662 Culpeper's Directory for Midwives: 2nd Pt. v. iii. 159 And if they abort in a feaver, you must impute it rather to the violence of the feaver, then to the bleeding.
1767 tr. ‘Monsieur de Blainville’ Trav. (new ed.) I. 58 She is about 37, and has as yet never had any children, and has aborted but once.
1786 T. Denman Ess. Uterine Hemorrhages (ed. 2) 17 Some women abort with sharp and long continued pains; others, with little or no pain.
1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. V. 615/2 A woman who aborted at the sixth month.
1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Nov. 1153/1 She aborted at seven months.
1894 Daily News 8 June 8/3 Treatment by the aid of antiseptics of cows which have aborted, is certainly to be recommended.
1958 D. C. Jarvis Folk Med. App. A. 165 The abortions were fewer, only three cows aborting during the past year.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. xlii. 4/1 The most important feature which suggests that the patient may abort is vaginal bleeding.
2005 Gynecol. Oncol. 98 5/1 Five patients (62%) aborted spontaneously without the need for surgical intervention.
b. transitive. To expel or cause the expulsion of (an embryo or fetus) from the uterus, esp. before it is viable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > abortion > terminate pregnancy [verb (transitive)] > abort fetus
abort1653
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > perform operation on specific part or condition [verb (transitive)] > operations on female sex organs > for abortion > of fetus
abort1653
1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations lxxii. 480 Likewise some Women that have suffered abortment, have conceived two Children at the same time, whereof the one hath been aborted before the time, and the other hath continued the full time.
1890 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 3 262 Half-breed children are regularly aborted, their large heads being fatal to the mother.
1933 Africa 6 59 An unmarried mother will be subjected to punishment and become the object of scorn, her child possibly killed or aborted.
1968 Jrnl. Criminal Law (U.S.) 59 85/1 In 1830 the statue was amended to include attempts to abort a fetus by means other than the use of drugs.
1989 New Scientist 4 Mar. 46/2 Coypus breed continuously, but in Britain's cold winters many females aborted their litters when their fat reserves were used up.
2001 B. K. Das tr. P. Ray Primal Land lxvii. 196 ‘Abort the child,’ he said. ‘No, no, that's a sin,’ she cried, horrified.
c. transitive. To terminate (a pregnancy) by undergoing or performing an abortion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > abortion > terminate pregnancy [verb (transitive)]
abort1887
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > perform operation on specific part or condition [verb (transitive)] > operations on female sex organs > for abortion > of pregnancy
abort1887
1887 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. 20 844 Last pregnancy was aborted in the third month.
1935 Lancet 21 Dec. 1429/1 A smaller proportion of Catholic pregnancies were aborted than of Jewish pregnancies; not that the Catholic women resorted less frequently to abortion, but they became pregnant more frequently.
1948 Arch. Neurol. & Psychiatry 59 25 The second pregnancy was aborted at the insistence of her family.
1966 Listener 6 Oct. 503/2 In rats..after a female has successfully mated with a male, the presence of another male a little distance away immediately aborts the pregnancy.
1991 S. Faludi Backlash iii. xiv. 413 Not until then [sc. the late 19th century] did aborting a pregnancy before ‘quickening’ (several months after conception) even assume a moral taint.
2007 Neuron 55 689/2 When a pregnant rat smells that particular smell, the pregnancy is aborted.
d. transitive. To cause (a pregnant woman) to abort; to perform an abortion on. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > abortion > cause to abort [verb (reflexive)]
abort1908
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > perform operation on specific part or condition [verb (transitive)] > operations on female sex organs > for abortion
abort1908
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > undergo or perform operation on specific part or condition [verb (intransitive)] > operations of female sex organs > for abortion
abort1969
1908 Buffalo Med. Jrnl. 64 24 It is not always necessary to abort a woman who has a fibroid so situated as apparently to act as a bar to delivery.
1931 Lancet 26 Dec. 1434/1 Where healthy women have been aborted, it has usually been carried out surreptitiously, under unfavourable conditions, or by incompetent persons.
1967 Listener 30 Nov. 686/3 Dramas of scruffy girls in jeans being aborted after men with sideburns..had got them in the family way.
1969 Daily Tel. 28 Apr. 14 National Health surgeons on the whole remain disinclined to abort frivolously.
1981 Contraception 24 154 The remaining two patients were aborted by dilation and curettage.
e. intransitive. Of a pregnant woman: to procure or undergo an induced abortion.
ΚΠ
1967 Times 22 Dec. 5/8 Why, when women have..been unable to abort, do so many unmarried mothers-to-be go miles away from their home town or village, assume the title ‘Mrs.’ and try to start a new life?
1987 K. Lette Girls' Night Out (1989) 45 Camille threw the I Ching to see whether she should abort.
2004 Wall St. Jrnl. 12 Nov. (Central ed.) w17/5 The film's chief objections are that rich women abort in more comfortable and sanitary environs.
2. figurative and in figurative context.In later use not always distinct from extended use of sense 4.
a. transitive. To bring to a premature end; to terminate without result or success. Also: to present in an imperfect or malformed state.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail in [verb (transitive)] > cause to fail
bringc1175
abort?1548
foil1548
ruin1593
to throw out1821
to put a person's pot on1864
mucker1869
collapse1883
to fix (someone's) wagon1951
?1548 L. Shepherd Phylogamus sig. Biiii Lo thus Philogamus After thys sorte Helpeth Misogamus Hym to comforte Agaynst Monogamus That dothe reporte That youre Apogamus Is but aborte.
1614 H. Wotton Let. 8 June in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1672) 431 It [sc. the Parliament] is aborted before it was born.
1797 tr. Voltaire Henriade v. 120 With sacrilegious rites the leaders try Thro' dark futurity's abyss to pry, Forcing to light his unperfected crime, By spells aborted from the womb of time.
1832 A. Slade Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, & Black Sea I. xii. 394 A war in the feverish state of Europe would have been imprudent, liable to be aborted by foreign interference.
1833 New Monthly Mag (Amer. ed.) 1 289/1 He might have starved and the work been aborted.
1853 J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama & Mississippi 232 The speech he had in him he did not deliver; he ‘aborted’ it, and, instead of the anticipated pride and joy of maternity, he feels only the guilt and the shame of infanticide.
1880 Contemp. Rev. 37 248 Lord Brougham did write a novel, but it was rather aborted than produced.
1891 Sat. Rev. 28 Mar. 379/1 It was as certain as anything could be that the Home Rule question..would abort all other questions.
1938 Times 16 Feb. 8/6 Without Northern Ireland a disappointed Eire might conceivably abort it [sc. British-American co-operation].
1975 New Yorker 20 Jan. 87/3 The gunning down of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King aborted two careers from which many great things were expected.
2008 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 7 Jan. 24 Jewish life in North America was nearly aborted before birth.
b. intransitive. Of an undertaking, action, etc.: to come to a premature end, to stop short; to finish without result or success.
ΚΠ
1620 T. Ryves Poore Vicars Plea 7 Hee wrote a large Discourse..which he intended to send to her Maiestie..but that death preuented him; and (he dying) that worke aborted with him.
1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xliii. 267 But the mischiefe which he reuengefully meant,..aborted; himselfe shortly dying.
1729 W. Mackintosh Ess. on Inclosing Scotl. 41 Let whatever Projects for enriching the Nation be set a-foot, until this solid Foundation is laid, they will all abort, I'm afraid.
a1749 A. Robertson Poems (?1752) 275 Thus the Design vanishes and aborts.
1847 H. Hubbell Arnold iii. i. 29 His greeting first Had been a smile, but it aborted as A sneer.
1933 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 20 13 The Civil Service Commission which Grant established soon aborted.
1962 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 106 410 Secret intelligence uncovered the Cambridge-Scroop-Grey conspiracy, caused it to abort, and led to the very speedy detection and execution of the plotters.
2004 Jrnl. Coastal Res. 20 348/2 The project aborted. The universal system of measurements conference would not take place.
3. Biology. Cf. abortion n. 3.
a. intransitive. To be arrested in development, so as to remain in a rudimentary or sterile condition or to disappear entirely. Also (now rare): to become reduced to a rudimentary state in the course of evolution.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [verb (intransitive)] > grow > atrophy or become stunted
stunt1706
abort1754
stock1853
atrophy1865
hypertrophy1883
1754 J. Justice Scots Gardiners Director 127 This might make them abort (if I may say so) and send up a small untimely Fruit a Year before they should fruit.
1859 T. H. Huxley in Proc. Royal Soc. 1857–9 9 414 And the difference consists mainly, as might be anticipated, in the large development in the branchiate Vertebrata of a structure which aborts in the abranchiate classes.
1862 C. Darwin On Var. Contrivances Orchids Fertilised 70 If the discs had been small..we might have concluded that they had begun to abort.
1877 St. G. Mivart Lessons Elem. Anat. iii. 112 They [sc. the turbinal bones] may, on the contrary, abort altogether, as is the case in the probably smell-less Porpoises.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) xiii. 319 The anterior cornua are the ventral ends of the hyoidean arches, the dorsal end of each of which has aborted.
1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants 25 (caption) The terminal meristem in this species aborts.
1998 Your Garden Oct. 37/3 Too much water and the flowers will rot—not enough and flowers will abort before opening.
b. transitive. To prevent the further development or cause the regression of (a structure or condition); to arrest the progress of (a disease, process, etc.).
ΚΠ
1877 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 167 584 The larva is beginning to abort its second series of gills and to acquire lungs.
1886 Science 7 May 422/2 If we can vaccinate in time, we may abort an attack of small-pox which would otherwise occur.
1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xxxvii. 565 A threatening boil may often be aborted by touching the little initial itching or vesiculated papule with some penetrating antiseptic.
1917 Lancet 8 Sept. 377/1 Such operations may succeed in arresting deadly hæmorrhage, and it is beyond all doubt that they can abort the development of a grave infection in types A, B, and C.
1973 Sci. Amer. Sept. 120/3 In 1952 Jean Delay and Pierre Deniker of France discovered the drug's remarkable effectiveness in aborting acute psychotic episodes.
1990 N.Y. Times 7 Aug. c1/3 Europeans described their studies involving drugs designed to break up clots in the coronary arteries to abort heart attacks in progress.
1997 J. Moore Never eat your heart Out 289 In California the temperature sometimes rises so high that the flowers are aborted.
4. Originally Aeronautics. Cf. abort n. 3.
a. intransitive. To abandon or fail to complete a launch, flight, or mission; to cancel or terminate a program or process before completion; (of a program or process) to stop suddenly before completion.
ΚΠ
1946 Britannica Bk. of Year 832/1 Abort, to fail to complete a mission or flight; said of an aeroplane.
1963 Amer. Speech 38 118 If trouble develops on the take-off roll before go-no-go, it is possible to abort and stop the aircraft on the remaining runway.
1972 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Process Design & Devel. 11 518/1 This is followed by a check of the abortive implicit constraints which when violated..may cause the simulation program to abort.
1998 B. M. Byrne Struct. Equation Modeling with Losrel, Prelis, & Simplis vi. 228 (note) If the format statement is included in the SIMPLIS input file,..the program aborts for reasons of syntactical errors.
1999 Airforces Monthly Oct. 65 Normally the ageing aircraft behave very well, but not on this day, one after the other aborted before take-off.
b. transitive. To abandon (a launch, flight, or mission); to cancel or terminate (a program or process) before completion.
ΚΠ
1951 Times 15 June 3/7 Two or three days later there came the recommendation that all would be aborted..unless ground troops were used.
1963 Amer. Speech 38 118 We lost an engine, so we aborted the mission.
1980 Computer Communications 3 285/2 Should it be necessary to abort a transaction in process, modifications to all parts of the database may be backed out as one unit, to assure consistency and integrity of the information base.
1988 M. Agazarian Instrument Flying (BNC) 26 If flying solo, abort the sortie, inform ground control of your problem and request SRA and other available aids.
1992 Economist 15 Feb. 109/2 The enemy can never use those codes against missiles launched on purpose—but unauthorised launches could be aborted.
2008 Future Generation Computer Syst. 24 261/2 Users should be able to..abort a running application based on exceptions or intermediate results.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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