Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cut off; remove.
- intransitive verb To shed by abscission.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cut off or away.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb shed flowers and leaves and fruit following formation of a scar tissue
- verb remove or separate by abscission
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin abscīdere, abscīs- : ab-, away; see ab– + caedere, to cut; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin abscīsus, perfect passive participle of abscīdō ("cut off"); formed from abs- + caedō ("cut").
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Examples
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And once the hormone level reaches to a certain point, that induces the organ shed, basically, the leaves or the fruits or flower petals or whatever it is that can abscise from their tree or plant.
NPR Topics: News 2010
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