• (RP) IPA: /əˈbɔːt/
• (America) IPA: /əˈbɔɹt/

abort (plural aborts)

1. (obsolete) A miscarriage; an untimely birth; an abortion. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 17^th century.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vi:

     In Japonia 'tis a common thing to stifle their children if they be poor, or to make an abort, which Aristotle commends.

2. (now, rare) The product of a miscarriage; an aborted offspring; an abortion. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
3. (military, aeronautics) An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission.

   We've had aborts on three of our last seven launches.

4. (computing) The function used to abort a process.
5. (computing) An event involving the abort of a process.

   We've had three aborts over the last two days.

• French: fausse couche
• German: Abort, Schwangerschaftsabbruch
• Portuguese: aborto
• Russian: або́рт
• Spanish: aborto

• French: avorton
• Portuguese: aborto, abortado

• German: Abbruch
• Portuguese: abort, abortamento

abort (aborts, present participle aborting; past and past participle aborted)

1. (intransitive, now, rare outside, medicine) To miscarry; to bring forth (non-living) offspring prematurely. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
2. (transitive, intransitive) To cause a premature termination of (a fetus); to end a pregnancy before term. [Attested since at least the 19^th century.]
3. (transitive) To end prematurely; to stop in the preliminary stages; to turn back. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]
4. (intransitive) To stop or fail at something in the preliminary stages. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]
5. (intransitive, biology) To become checked in normal development, so as either to remain rudimentary or shrink away wholly; to cease organic growth before maturation; to become sterile. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]
6. (transitive, biology) To cause an organism to develop minimally; to cause rudimentary development to happen; to prevent maturation. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]
7. (intransitive, military) To abandon a mission at any point after the beginning of the mission and prior to its completion. [First attested in the mid 20^th century.]
8. (transitive, aeronautics) To terminate a mission involving a missile or rocket; to destroy a missile or rocket prematurely. [First attested in the mid 20^th century.]
9. (transitive, computing) To terminate a process prior to completion.

• French: faire une fausse couche
• Italian: abortire, fallire
• Portuguese: abortar, perder
• Spanish: abortar

• French: avorter, interrompre, abandonner
• Italian: abortire, interrompere
• Portuguese: abortar, cancelar

• French: interrompre, abandonner, échouer, s'arrêter
• German: abbrechen
• Italian: interrompere, fermare
• Portuguese: abortar
• Russian: прервать