[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. Coverthe 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. trans. 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.
