ablation — ONAD

ablation /əˈblāSHən, əˈbleɪʃən

▸ noun

1 the surgical removal of body tissue.

2 the removal of snow and ice by melting or evaporation, typically from a glacier or iceberg.

▪ the erosion of rock, typically by wind action.

▪ the loss of surface material from a spacecraft or meteorite through evaporation or melting caused by friction with the atmosphere.

– ORIGIN late Middle English (in the general sense ‘taking away, removal’): from late Latin ablatio(n-), from Latin ablat- ‘taken away’, from ab- ‘away’ + lat- ‘carried’ (from the verb ferre).