: the act of leaving out one or more words that are not necessary for a phrase to be understood

We hugged goodbye and his hand lingered on my arm before he turned and walked home to her.  His fingers brushed my wrist and I watched him go.  I thought about how I knew better and how much it had taken me to learn.  I thought about slipping up and I thought about falling.  He was a rock’n’roll cowboy who had tripped me with his gaze.