Abduction

abduction [ab′dək·shən]

(physiology)

Movement of an extremity or other body part away from the axis of the body.

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Abduction

Balfour, David

expecting inheritance, kidnapped by uncle. [Br. Lit.: Kidnapped]

Bertram, Henry

kidnapped at age five; taken from Scotland. [Br. Lit.: Guy Mannering]

Bonnard, Sylvestre

to save an orphan girl from cruel treatment, removes her from school by trickery and becomes her guardian. [Fr. Lit.: France The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard in Magill II, 196]

Cephalus

carried off in lusting Aurora’s chariot. [Rom. Myth.: Hall, 36]

Conway, Hugh

kidnapped to the lamasery called Shangri-la. [Br. Lit.: Lost Horizon]

Europa

maiden carried off to Crete by Zeus in the form of a white bull. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 327]

Gilda

abducted by Duke of Mantua’s courtiers. [Ital. Opera: Verdi, Rigoletto, Westerman, 299–300]

Helen

carried off by Paris, thus precipitating Trojan war. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad, Hall, 147]

Hylas

boy beloved by Heracles is carried off by the nymphs after he draws water from their fountain. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 476]

Lyudmilla

princess carried off on her wedding night by the wizard Chernomor. [Russ. Poetry: Ruslan and Lyudmilla in Haydn & Fuller, 653]

Prisoner of Zenda, The

King of Ruritania is held captive in castle of Zenda. [Br. Lit.: The Prisoner of Zenda]

Proserpina

(Gk. Persephone) whisked away by lustful Pluto in chariot. [Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses; Fasti; Art: Hall, 260]

Raid of Ruthven

James VI kidnapped for ten months by Protestant nobles (1582-1583). [Scot. Hist.: Grun, 258]

Resurrection Men

1800s “body snatchers”; supplied cadavers for dissection. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 756]

Sabine Women

menfolk absent, Romans carry off women for wives. [Rom. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 948; Flem. Art: Rubens, “Rape of the Sabine Women”]

virgins of Jabesh-gilead

abducted by Israelites while dancing at Shiloh. [O.T.: Judges 21:12–24]

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(logic)

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. ["Abductive Inference", John R. Josephson <jj@cis.ohio-state.edu>].

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Abduction 

a marriage practice in which the groom steals the bride. The abduction may be forcible, or it may be done with the prior agreement of the groom’s and bride’s families. According to the prevailing scientific opinion, the first type of abduction was always rare because it led to confrontations between primitive communes and similar groups. The second type, however, was widely practiced, especially among several Northern Caucasian peoples in prerevolutionary times, since it helped eliminate some of the wedding expenses. In a third type, the abduction was simulated, that is, the bride was playfully captured by the groom. This practice is still part of the traditional wedding rituals of many peoples.