abortive

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English, from Old French abortif,[1] from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orīor (“appear, be born, arise”)[2].

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abortive (comparative more abortive, superlative most abortive)

  1. (obsolete) Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18th century.][1]
    • 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, sc. 3:
      Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!
    an abortive child
  2. Coming to naught; failing in its effect; miscarrying; fruitless; unsuccessful. [First attested in the late 16th century.][1]
    an abortive attempt
    • 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables, Chapter 7:
      He made a salutation, or, to speak nearer the truth, an ill-defined, abortive attempt at curtsy.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1799 edition:
      […] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf.
    • (Can we date this quote?), William H. Prescott, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      An abortive enterprise.
  3. (biology) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][1]
    an abortive organ
    an abortive stamen
    an abortive ovule
  4. (medicine, rare, attributive) Causing abortion; abortifacient
    abortive medicines
  5. (medicine) Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).
    abortive treatment of typhoid fever
  6. Made from the skin of a still-born animal.
    abortive vellum

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

abortive (plural abortives)

  1. (obsolete) That which is born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion. [Attested from around (1150 to 1350) until the mid 18th century.][1]
    • 1592, Shakespeare, Richard III, I-iii:
      Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog!
  2. (obsolete) A fruitless effort or issue. [Attested from the early 17th century until the early 18th century.][1]
  3. (obsolete) A medicine to which is attributed the property of causing abortion, abortifacient.

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

abortive (third-person singular simple present abortives, present participle abortiving, simple past and past participle abortived)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To cause an abortion; to render without fruit. [Attested only in the 17th century.][1]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], →ISBN), page 7
  2. ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4

French[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abortive

  1. feminine singular of abortif

German[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abortive

  1. inflected form of abortiv

Italian[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abortive f pl

  1. Feminine plural of adjective abortivo.

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Adjective[edit]

abortīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of abortīvus
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