In a general sense, the act of drawing apart, or carrying away.

In surgery, a species of fracture, in which the broken parts recede from each other.

In logic, a kind of argumentation, called by the Greeks apagoge, in which the major is evident, but the minor is not so clear, as not to require farther proof. As in this syllogism, “all whom God absolves are free from sin; God absolves all who are in Christ; therefore all who are in Christ are free from sin.” .

In law, the taking and carrying away of a child, a ward, a wifeeither by fraud, persuasion, or open violence.