Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Subtraction
1.
The act or operation of subtracting or taking away a part.
2.
(Math.)
The taking of a lesser number or quantity from a greater of the same kind or denomination; an operation for finding the difference between two numbers or quantities.
3.
(Law)
The withdrawing or withholding from a person of some right to which he is entitled by law.
☞ Thus the subtraction of conjugal rights is when either the husband or wife withdraws from the other and lives separate without sufficient reason. The subtraction of a legacy is the withholding or detailing of it from the legatee by the executor. In like manner, the withholding of any service, rent, duty, or custom, is a subtraction, for which the law gives a remedy.
Blackstone.
Webster 1828 Edition
Subtraction
SUBTRAC'TION
,Noun.
1.
In arithmetic, the taking of a lesser number from a greater of the same kind or denomination; an operation by which is found the difference between two sums.