Abortion History

–noun

1.	Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.

2.	any of various surgical methods for terminating a pregnancy, esp. during the first six months.

3.	Also called spontaneous abortion. miscarriage (def. 3).

4.	an immature and nonviable fetus.

5.	abortus (def. 2b).

6.	any malformed or monstrous person, thing, etc.

7.	Biology. the arrested development of an embryo or an organ at a more or less early stage.

8.	the stopping of an illness, infection, etc., at a very early stage.

9.	Informal. a. shambles; mess. b. anything that fails to develop, progress, or mature, as a design or project.

1390, "relation of incidents" (true or false), from O.Fr. historie, from L. historia "narrative, account, tale, story," from Gk. historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative," from historein "inquire," from histor "wise man, judge," from PIE *wid-tor-, from base *weid- "to know," lit. "to see" (see vision). Related to Gk. idein "to see," and to eidenai "to know." In M.E., not differentiated from story; sense of "record of past events" probably first attested 1485. Sense of "systematic account (without reference to time) of a set of natural phenomena" (1567) is now obs. except in natural history. What is historic (1669) is noted or celebrated in history; what is historical (1561) deals with history. Historian "writer of history in the higher sense," distinguished from a mere annalist or chronicler, is from 1531. The O.E. word was þeod-wita.