Abscession
(Ab*sces"sion) n. [L. abscessio a separation; fr. absedere. See Abscess.] A separating; removal; also,
an abscess. [Obs.] Gauden. Barrough.
Abscind
(Ab*scind") v. t. [L. absindere; ab + scindere to rend, cut. See Schism.] To cut off. [R.]
"Two syllables . . . abscinded from the rest." Johnson.
Abscision
(Ab*sci"sion) n. [L. abscisio.] See Abscission.
Absciss
(Ab"sciss) n.; pl. Abscisses See Abscissa.
Abscissa
(Ab*scis"sa) n.; E. pl. Abscissas, L. pl. Abscissæ. [L., fem. of abscissus, p. p. of absindere
to cut of. See Abscind.] (Geom.) One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is
referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes. When referred to two intersecting axes, one of
them called the axis of abscissas, or of X, and the other the axis of ordinates, or of Y, the abscissa of
the point is the distance cut off from the axis of X by a line drawn through it and parallel to the axis of
Y. When a point in space is referred to three axes having a common intersection, the abscissa may
be the distance measured parallel to either of them, from the point to the plane of the other two axes.
Abscissas and ordinates taken together are called coördinates. — OX or PY is the abscissa of the point
P of the curve, OY or PX its ordinate, the intersecting lines OX and OY being the axes of abscissas and
ordinates respectively, and the point O their origin.
Abscission
(Ab*scis"sion) n. [L. abscissio. See Abscind.]
1. The act or process of cutting off. "Not to be cured without the abscission of a member." Jer. Taylor.
2. The state of being cut off. Sir T. Browne.
3. (Rhet.) A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly: thus,
"He is a man of so much honor and candor, and of such generosity — but I need say no more."
Abscond
(Ab*scond") v. i. [imp. & p. p. Absconded; p. pr. & vb. n. Absconding.] [L. abscondere to
hide; ab, abs + condere to lay up; con + dare (only in comp.) to put. Cf. Do.]
1. To hide, withdraw, or be concealed.
The marmot absconds all winter.
Ray.
2. To depart clandestinely; to steal off and secrete one's self; — used especially of persons who withdraw
to avoid a legal process; as, an absconding debtor.
That very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond.
Macaulay.
Abscond
(Ab*scond"), v. t. To hide; to conceal. [Obs.] Bentley.
Abscondence
(Ab*scond"ence) n. Fugitive concealment; secret retirement; hiding. [R.] Phillips.
Absconder
(Ab*scond"er) n. One who absconds.
Absence
(Ab"sence) n. [F., fr. L. absentia. See Absent.]
1. A state of being absent or withdrawn from a place or from companionship; — opposed to presence.
Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.
Phil. ii. 12.
2. Want; destitution; withdrawal. "In the absence of conventional law." Kent.
