[ad. (either directly or through Fr. excision), L. excīsiōn-em, n. of action f. excīdĕre: see EXCISE v.1]
1. The action or process of cutting off or out (any part of the body).
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 A ij b. Holowe vlceres … procede of two causes, that is to wete of excysyon and of eroysion.
1641. J. Symonds, Serm. bef. Ho. Comm., D ij b. In a gangræne to endure the excision of a limb.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 17, ¶ 5. The excision or laceration of the vital parts.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 462/1. Excision of the lower jaw.
1864. Sat. Rev., 21 May. Slitting of noses and excision of ears had, indeed, gone out of fashion.
b. fig.
1791. Han. More, Relig. Fash. World, 133. A christian life seems to consist of two things … the adoption of good habits, and the excision of such as are evil.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 256. By a manifesto published March 25, 1793, however, it [Poland] underwent another excision.
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. IV. ix. (1863), I. 60. The manlier and more vigorous feelings and emotions did not undergo excision.
1878. Lecky, Eng. in 18th C., I. iii. 435. Defoe and the Speaker Onslow both desired the excision of rotten boroughs.
2. The action of cutting off from existence; destruction; extirpation; the condition or state of being cut off. Also fig.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxi. (1890), 76. All the grekes folke swore that troye shold be distroyed. The harde conspyracion of the same grete excysion was made ferre from my lande.
1531. Elyot, Gov., II. III. xxiii. 358. O poure and miserable citie! what sondry tourmentes, excisions … and other euill aduentures hathe hapned unto the.
1626. Donne, Serm., xxi. (1640), 211 A. It shall not work as a Circumcision, but as an Excision; not as a lopping off, but as a rooting up.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., I. iii. (1852), 58. Lest the inhabitants of Plymouth should revenge that excision of their countrymen.
1846. Trench, Mirac., xxiii. (1862), 343. That accursed race once doomed of God to a total excision, root and branch.
3. The action of cutting off (a person) from a religious society; excommunication.
1647. Hammond, Power of Keys, iv. 74. Excommunication … denotes the excision from all, or any degree of Communion in sacris.
1699. Burnet, 39 Art., xvi. (1700), 143. Among the Jews some sins were punished by a total excision or cutting off.
1834. Caunter, Orient. Ann., ix. 118. Doomed to the penalties of everlasting excision.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, II. 92. A wrong … which the Mosaic law had punished with excision from the congregation.
4. The action of cutting out or erasing (a passage from a book, a clause from a bill, etc.); an instance of the same.
1858. Gladstone, Homer, I. 42. Shall we … hold the received text provisionally and subject to excision. Ibid. (1881), Sp. at Leeds, Oct. It would be my imperative duty to make large excisions.
1884. Manch. Guardian, 3 Oct., 5/5. To throw upon the House of Commons the excision of the proposed clause.
5. The action of cutting or hollowing out: in quot. concr. A space hollowed out. rare.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 29. A spade-deep excision for the planks … to rest upon.
