abort

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To give birth prematurely or before term; miscarry.
2. v. To cease growth before full development or maturation.
3. v. To terminate an operation or procedure, as with a project, missile, airplane, or space vehicle, before completion.
4. v. To cause to terminate (a pregnancy) prematurely, especially before the fetus is viable.
5. v. To cause the expulsion of (an embryo or fetus) before it is viable.
6. v. To give premature birth to (an embryo or fetus).
7. v. To interfere with the development of; conclude prematurely: abort plans for a corporate takeover.
8. v. To terminate before completion: abort a trip because of illness; abort a takeoff.
9. v. To stop the progress of (a disease, for example).
10. n. The act of terminating an operation or procedure, as with a project, missile, airplane, or space vehicle, before completion.
11. n. Computer Science A procedure to terminate execution of a program when an unrecoverable error or malfunction occurs.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To miscarry in giving birth.
2. To become aborted or abortive; appear or remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state: as, organs liable to abort.
3. n. An abortion.
4. To render abortive; check or arrest the development of: as, to abort a fever.

Wiktionary

1. n. computing The function used to abort a process.
2. n. computing An event involving the abort of a process.
3. v. transitive To cause a premature termination of a foetus; to bring forth offspring prematurely; to end a pregnancy before term.
4. v. transitive, computing To terminate a process prior to completion.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To miscarry; to bring forth young prematurely.
2. v. (Biol.) To become checked in normal development, so as either to remain rudimentary or shrink away wholly; to become sterile.
3. v. to stop, cease, or fail prior to normal completion.
4. v. to cause (an action or process) to stop at an early stage, or before normal completion.
5. n. obsolete An untimely birth.
6. n. obsolete An aborted offspring.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. cease development, die, and be aborted
2. v. terminate a pregnancy by undergoing an abortion
3. n. the act of terminating a project or procedure before it is completed
4. v. terminate before completion