Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A part cut off; specifically, in conic sections, an abscissa (which see). Also abscisse.

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

  • noun See abscissa.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin abscissa, feminine of abscissus, perfect passive participle of abscindō ("cut asunder").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Back-formation from abscission.

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Examples

  • George Crabb in 1823 defined co-ordinates now dropping its hyphen as “a term applied to the absciss and ordinates when taken in connexion,” later better known as the magnitudes that determine the position of a point; geographers and navigators still later used coordinates to describe the use of longitude and latitude in locating a spot on the globe.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • George Crabb in 1823 defined co-ordinates now dropping its hyphen as “a term applied to the absciss and ordinates when taken in connexion,” later better known as the magnitudes that determine the position of a point; geographers and navigators still later used coordinates to describe the use of longitude and latitude in locating a spot on the globe.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • As soon as a majority of the catkins began to shed their pollen or to absciss their full developed anthers, the catkins were removed and dried on a sheet of smooth paper at room temperature until the pollen was shed.

    Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943

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