ABSCIS'SION, noun [See Absciss.] 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.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI