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That which is cast or brought forth prematurely; an abortion. Sir T. Browne.

y plotting; to attempt to frustrate, as a stratagem, by stratagem. Every wile had proved abortive, every plot had been counterplotted. De Quinsey.

hence, dispirited; dejected; cowed. Let it make thee crestfullen; Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride. Shak.

loid constituting the active principle of ergot; -- so named from its power of producing abortion.

The act of killing the fetus in the womb; the offense of procuring an abortion.

A failure or abortive effort. [Colloq.]

-- said of a hunted fox. (b) To fall in battle. -- To go to naught (Colloq.), to prove abortive, or unavailling. -- To go under. (a) To set; -- said of the sun. (b) To be known or recognized by (a name, title, etc.). (c) To be overwhelmed, submerged, or defeated; to perish; to succumb. -- To go up, to come to nothi…

s of Great Britain and Virginia; -- called also horned poppy. Gray. -- Horn pox (Med.), abortive smallpox with an eruption like that of chicken pox. -- Horn quicksilver (Min.), native calomel, or bichloride of mercury. -- Horn shell (Zoöl.), any long, sharp, spiral, gastropod shell, of the genus Cerithium, and allie…

Not very distinct; obscure; rudimental; imperfectly developed; abortive.

A disease which produces abortion in the fruit or seeds. Henslow.

lse birth, fabled to be produced by Dutch women from sitting over their stoves; also, an abortion, in a figurative sense; an abortive scheme. Fruits of dull heat, and sooterkins of wit. Pope.

An abortive stamen, or any organ modified from an abortive stamen.

Fig.: Abortive; as, a stillborn poem. Swift.