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Noun: apheresis  u'fe-ri-sis
  1. (linguistics) omission at the beginning of a word as in 'coon' for 'raccoon' or 'till' for 'until'
    "The word 'phone' is an example of apheresis from 'telephone'";
    - aphaeresis
     
  2. A procedure in which blood is drawn and separated into its components by dialysis; some are retained and the rest are returned to the donor by transfusion
    "The patient underwent apheresis to collect stem cells for transplantation";
    - pheresis

Type of: deletion, dialysis, omission

Encyclopedia: Apheresis