amputation
(æmpjuːˈteɪʃən)
[ad. L. amputātiōn-em (or a. Fr. amputation 16th c. in Litt.), n. of action f. amputā-re: see amputate.]
1. gen. A cutting or lopping off, as of branches of trees in pruning; also, the cut end. Obs. exc. as fig. use of 2.
| 1611 Cotgr., Amputation, An amputation, or cutting away: or paring about; a ridding, or taking away. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 204 Cover the wound or Amputation with a Mixture of Bees-wax. 1727 Pope Art of Sinking 113 Yon' luminary amputation needs [i.e. the candle needs snuffing]. 1813 Marshall Garden. viii. (ed. 5) 103 Some amputations are necessary to help the sooner to new roots. |
2. esp. The operation of cutting off a limb or other projecting part of the body. Also attrib.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. 1653, 156 Amputation or Dismembring is the most lamentable part of Chirurgery. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 187 The Amazones in the amputation of their right breast. 1743 tr. Heister's Surg. 345 Amputations of the Thigh. 1769 White in Phil. Trans. LIX. 40, I had sawn it off with a common amputation-saw. 1878 Markham Gt. Frozen Sea xii. 172 Some of the frost⁓bites were so severe as to render amputation necessary. |
3. fig. Excision, e.g. of words or sentences from a speech or writing; pruning, retrenchment.
| 1664 Butler Hudibr. ii. i. 364 'Twas he..Made those that represent the nation Submit and suffer amputation. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 6 In her own words, without amputation or addition. 1850 H. Rogers Ess. II. iv. 188 The suppression or amputation of sundry compound prepositions and conjunctions. |