'bortion

Noun

abortion (countable and uncountable, plural abortions)

1. (now uncommon in general use) A spontaneous abortion; a miscarriage.
   • Swines-bread, so used, doth not onely speed / A tardy labour; but (without great heed) / If over it a Child-great Woman stride, / Instant abortion often doth betide.1605 [1578], Josuah, transl. Sylvester, “The Third Day of the First Week”, in Devine Weekes and Workes, translation of La Premiere Sepmaine by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, lines 693–696

   Synonyms:

   miscarriage, misbirth

2. An induced abortion.
   • Mary decided to have an abortion because she was too young to raise a baby.

   Synonyms:

   aborticide, feticide, foeticide, termination

3. (archaic) An aborted foetus; an abortus.
   • ‘It seems too hairy for an abortion, and too small for a mature birth.’1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 657
4. (figuratively) A misshapen person or thing; a monstrosity.
   • Insomuch that I do honestly believe, there can be no place in the world, where such intolerable abortions, begotten of the sculptor’s chisel, are to be found in such profusion, as in Rome.1846, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in Pictures from Italy
5. (figuratively) Failure or abandonment of a project, promise, goal etc.
   • The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.1800 September 23, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush^(http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field(DOCID+@lit(tj090069)))
6. Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.

See all 7 meanings of abortion