[ad. L. abrāsiōn-em, n. of action from abrādĕre to ABRADE. Cf. Fr. abrasion, a recent word only used in sense 3.]
1. The act or process of rubbing off or away, wearing down by friction. lit. and fig.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Abrasion, a shaving away.
1837. Babbage, Bridgw. Treat., K 250. Let us suppose, that from the abrasion of the channel, the later tide arrives … earlier than before.
1858. J. G. Holland, Titcomb’s Lett., iii. 32. We are obliged … to speak pleasantly when irritated, and to do a great many things to avoid abrasion and collision.
1866. Crump, Banking, i. 4. All coins will, by wear or abrasion, become thinner.
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., II. xii. 361. The least abrasion of the skin was likely to result in an ulcer.
2. The result of rubbing off. a. The substance rubbed off, débris. Obs. b. A rubbed or abraded place.
1740. Dr. Cheyne, Ess. Regimen, 5. Earth … being probably the Ramenta or abrasions of the other elements.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exped. (1856), xxxiv. 305. Costing only a smart pull and a bleeding abrasion afterwards.
1878. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 34. A bed-sore may appear as a simple abrasion.
3. ‘Abrasion is sometimes used … for the act of wearing away the natural mucus which covers the membranes, and particularly those of the stomach and intestines, by sharp corrosive medicines.’ Chambers, Cycl., 1751; also in Syd. Soc. Lex., 1879.
