Also aphe-. [a. L. aphæresis, a. Gr. ἀφαίρεσις a taking away, n. of action f. ἀφαιρέ-ειν, f. ἀφ’ = ἀπό off, away + αἱρέ-ειν to take, snatch. The Latin grammarians gave it the transf. sense.]
1. Gram. The taking away or suppression of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word.
1611. Cotgr., Aphairese, the figure Aphæresis.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, France & It., II. 24. The figure aphærisis [will] alter the appellation entirely.
1846. Tregelles, trans. Gesenius’s Heb. Lex., 2/2. In Hebrew א without a vowel is very often rejected from the beginning of a word by aphæresis.
1864. Webster, Aphæresis, Apheresis.
† 2. Med. Obs.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Aphæresis,… in medicine denotes a necessary taking away or removal of something that is noxious. In surgery, it signifies an operation whereby something superfluous is taken away.
1880. Syd. Soc. Lex., Aphæresis, formerly used for large and injurious extraction of blood.
