Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Abscission \Ab*scis"sion\, n. [L. abscissio. See {Abscind}.]
   1. The act or process of cutting off. ``Not to be cured
      without the abscission of a member.'' --Jer. Taylor.

   2. The state of being cut off. --Sir T. Browne.

   3. (Rhet.) A figure of speech employed when a speaker having
      begun to say a thing stops abruptly: thus, ``He is a man
      of so much honor and candor, and of such generosity -- but
      I need say no more.''

Source : WordNet®

abscission
     n 1: shedding of flowers and leaves and fruit following formation
          of scar tissue in a plant
     2: the act of cutting something off [syn: {cutting off}]