Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Abscission
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.”
Webster 1828 Edition
Abscission
ABSCIS'SION
,Noun.
1.
A cutting off, or a begin cut off. In surgery, the separation of any corrupted or useless part of the body, by a sharp instrument; applied to the soft parts, as amputation is to the bones and flesh of a limb.2.
In rhetoric, a figure of speech, when having begun to say a thing, a speaker stops abruptly, as supposing the matter sufficiently understood. Thus, He is a man of so much honor and candor, and such generosity--but I need say no more.