Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To terminate (a pregnancy) by abortion.
  • intransitive verb To cause the expulsion of (an embryo or fetus) by abortion.
  • intransitive verb To undergo the abortion of (an embryo or fetus).
  • intransitive verb To miscarry (an embryo or fetus).
  • intransitive verb To terminate (an undertaking or procedure) before implementation or completion.
  • intransitive verb To stop the progress of (a disease, for example).
  • intransitive verb To miscarry.
  • intransitive verb To cease growth before full development or maturation.
  • intransitive verb To terminate an undertaking or procedure before implementation or completion.
  • noun The act of aborting an undertaking or procedure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To miscarry in giving birth.
  • To become aborted or abortive; appear or remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state: as, organs liable to abort.
  • noun An abortion.
  • To render abortive; check or arrest the development of: as, to abort a fever.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb to cause (an action or process) to stop at an early stage, or before normal completion.
  • intransitive verb To miscarry; to bring forth young prematurely.
  • intransitive verb (Biol.) To become checked in normal development, so as either to remain rudimentary or shrink away wholly; to become sterile.
  • intransitive verb to stop, cease, or fail prior to normal completion.
  • noun obsolete An untimely birth.
  • noun obsolete An aborted offspring.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun computing The function used to abort a process.
  • noun computing An event involving the abort of a process.
  • verb transitive To cause a premature termination of a foetus; to bring forth offspring prematurely; to end a pregnancy before term.
  • verb transitive, computing To terminate a process prior to completion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cease development, die, and be aborted
  • verb terminate a pregnancy by undergoing an abortion
  • noun the act of terminating a project or procedure before it is completed
  • verb terminate before completion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin abortāre, frequentative of aborīrī, abort-, to disappear, miscarry : ab-, away; see ab– + orīrī, to appear; see er- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Latin abortus, perfect active participle of aborior ("miscarry"), formed from ab + orior ("come into being").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin abortare, from abortus, from aboriri ("miscarry"), from ab- ("not") + oriri ("come into being, arise, appear").

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Examples

  • The loads applied to the vehicle on ascent, as well as other aspects of the accident environment, can pose a high risk to the crew if an abort is required.

    Ares 1 Abort Study Update - NASA Watch 2009

  • What I did say that in my opinion as a biologist who has studied fetal development – to abort is taking life even when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb – because life is there once the sperm fuses with the egg.

    Throwing women under the bus « Dating Jesus 2009

  • Also, per the other thread, I think the load at abort is 15g, and Jimfromnsf once said that the driving factor was outrunning the shockwave of a second stage explosion.

    Griffin - No Human Space Flight Review Needed - NASA Watch 2009

  • The report says that an abort is unsurvivable if it happens between the 30 and 60 second marks.

    Ares Doubts Continue to Mount - NASA Watch 2009

  • Obviously, to abort is not to receive a get-out-of-jail free card, emotionally or physically.

    Abortion Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry | Her Bad Mother 2009

  • I may be wrong but if I remember correctly the 2 sec requirements for abort is the same as the LES/Apollo on Saturn V.

    Ares 1 Abort Study Update - NASA Watch 2009

  • An abort is defined as more than seven 1s in a row in the datastream.

    show wan 2001

  • An abort is defined as more than seven 1s in a row in the datastream.

    show wan 2001

  • “Bird One, be advised the strike force you’ve been tracking has used the word abort,” radioed Cobra Two.

    Cyclops One Jim DeFelice 2003

  • “Bird One, be advised the strike force you’ve been tracking has used the word abort,” radioed Cobra Two.

    Cyclops One Jim DeFelice 2003

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