Definition of Apheresis

1. Noun. (linguistics) omission at the beginning of a word as in 'coon' for 'raccoon' or 'till' for 'until'.

Exact synonyms: Aphaeresis
Category relationships: Linguistics
Generic synonyms: Deletion, Omission
Derivative terms: Aphaeretic, Apheretic

2. Noun. A procedure in which blood is drawn and separated into its components by dialysis; some are retained and the rest are returned to the donor by transfusion.
Exact synonyms: Pheresis
Generic synonyms: Dialysis
Specialized synonyms: Plasmapheresis, Plateletpheresis
Derivative terms: Apheretic

Definition of Apheresis

1. n. The dropping of a letter or syllable from the beginning of a word; e. g., cute for acute.

Definition of Apheresis

1. Noun. (linguistics prosody) Elision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of (term special) from (term especial); procope. ¹

2. Noun. (context: medicine specific still current) The removal of blood from a patient, and the removal of certain components (such as platelets) from that blood, followed by the transfusion of the filtered blood back to the donor (patient). ¹

3. Noun. (context: medicine general obsolete) Extirpation or extraction of a superfluity (especially a pathological one) from the body, especially blood. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Apheresis

1. [n -RESES]

Medical Definition of Apheresis

1. A technique in which blood products are separated from a donor and the desired elements collected and the rest returned to the donor. This has the advantage of specificity and a good harvest, for example a good platelet collection may be obtained from two or three donors in which the conventional method would involve up to ten donors. (16 Dec 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Apheresis

aphasy
aphelian
aphelias
aphelions
apheliotropic
apheliotropism
aphemesthesia
aphemia
aphemias
aphemic
aphenphosmphobia
aphephobia
aphereses
apheresis (current term)
apheretic
apheses
aphesis
apheta
aphetas
aphetic
aphetically
aphetise
aphetised
aphetises
aphetism
aphetisms
aphetize
aphetized

Literary usage of Apheresis

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. From Latin to Spanish by Paul M. Lloyd (1987)
"... the process is called apocope, eg, Lat. SOLE 'sun' > Sp. sol, alguno > algun. apheresis This is the loss of an initial syllable, eg, Late Lat. ..."

2. Blood Supply: Transfusion-Associated Risks by Marcia G. Crosse (1999)
"The patient risk for apheresis platelets is the same as the per-unit risk (1:19500) ... Number of implicated apheresis units is 607000/19500, or 31 units. ..."

3. A Brief History of the English Language by Oliver Farrar Emerson (1896)
"apheresis.— By apheresis is meant the loss of an unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word. For example, the OE. prefix ge- became i(y)- in ME., ..."

4. The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language by William Dwight Whitney (1889)
"[By apheresis from disdain, qv] To disdain. dain-t, "• [By apheresis from disdain, ... Mir. for May*. dain:;t, rt [By apheresis from ordain.] To ordain. ..."

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