Abduction

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Abduction \Ab*duc"tion\, n. [L. abductio: cf. F. abduction.]
     1. The act of abducing or abducting; a drawing apart; a
        carrying away. --Roget.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Physiol.) The movement which separates a limb or other


        part from the axis, or middle line, of the body.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) The wrongful, and usually the forcible, carrying off
        of a human being; as, the abduction of a child, the
        abduction of an heiress.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Logic) A syllogism or form of argument in which the major
        is evident, but the minor is only probable.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  abduction
       n 1: the criminal act of capturing and carrying away by force a
            family member; if a man's wife is abducted it is a crime
            against the family relationship and against the wife
       2: (physiology) moving of a body part away from the central
          axis of the body

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  28 Moby Thesaurus words for "abduction":
     apprehension, arrest, arrestation, capture, catch, catching,
     collaring, coup, crimping, dragnet, forcible seizure, grab,
     grabbing, hold, impressment, kidnapping, nabbing, picking up,
     power grab, prehension, running in, seizure, seizure of power,
     shanghaiing, snatch, snatching, taking in, taking into custody
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  abduction
       
           The process of {inference} to the best explanation.
       
          "Abduction" is sometimes used to mean just the generation of
          hypotheses to explain observations or conclusionsm, but the
          former definition is more common both in philosophy and
          computing.
       
          The {semantics} and the implementation of abduction cannot be
          reduced to those for {deduction}, as explanation cannot be
          reduced to implication.
       
          Applications include fault diagnosis, plan formation and
          {default reasoning}.
       
          {Negation as failure} in {logic programming} can both be given
          an abductive interpretation and also can be used to implement
          abduction.  The abductive semantics of negation as failure
          leads naturally to an {argumentation}-theoretic interpretation
          of default reasoning in general.
       
          [Better explanation?  Example?]
       
          ["Abductive Inference", John R. Josephson
          ].
       
          (2000-12-07)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ABDUCTION, crim. law. The carrying away of any person by force or fraud.
  This is a misdemeanor punishable by indictment. 1 East, P.C. 458; 1 Russell,
  569.  The civil remedies are recaption, (q.v.) 3 Inst. 134; Hal. Anal. 46; 3
  Bl. Com 4; by writ of habeas corpus; and an action of trespass, Fitz. N. B.
  89; 3 Bl. Com 139, n. 27; Roscoe, Cr. Ev. 193.