Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language is regarded by many as the finest English
dictionary ever published. The dictionary is available in many forms. I made the content available here for my own purposes,
out of personal admiration for this particular dictionary.
AB'SCISS, n. [L. abscissus, from ab and scindere, to cut; See Scissors.] In conics, a part of the diameter, or transverse axis of a conic section, intercepted between the vertex or some other fixed point, and a semiordinate.