abscission vs cutting off

abscission

noun
  • A figure of speech employed when a speaker having begun to say a thing stops abruptly 

  • The natural separation of a part at a predetermined location, such as a leaf at the base of the petiole. 

  • The act or process of cutting off. 

cutting off

How often have the words abscission and cutting off occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )