Dictionary

trephine en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /tɹɪˈfaɪn/

Etymology

Borrowed from French tréphine, from Latin trepanum, from Ancient Greek τρύπανον (trúpanon, “auger, borer”). Doublet of trepan.

Meanings

1. A surgical instrument with a cylindrical blade used to remove a circular section of tissue, such as bone or cornea; a trepan.
   • They removed a core of bone as well as took a bone marrow aspirate from my right hip using a trephine to exclude me having blood cancer, causing a blood- and serum-stained shirt, a whopping hematoma and a great deal of mental anguish and physical pain in the process!

Forms

Deriveds

trephination · trephiner

Synonyms

trepan

Translations (6)

es trépano (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull) · sv trepan (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull) · fr tréphine (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull) · fr trépan (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull) · pt trépano (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull) · ota طرپان (surgical instrument to remove a circular section from the skull)

trephine en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /tɹɪˈfaɪn/

Etymology

Borrowed from French tréphine, from Latin trepanum, from Ancient Greek τρύπανον (trúpanon, “auger, borer”). Doublet of trepan.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To use a trephine during surgery.
   • "We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove the blood clot, for it is evident that the haemorrhage is increasing." 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula:
2. (transitive) To perforate with a trephine.
   • The pony was cast, and trephined, a middle-sized trephine (or bone saw) being used, which removed a circular piece of bone about the size of a two shilling piece, from the face immediately over the air cavity. 1901 August 16, “Veterinary Departmental Report for May, 1901”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 12, page 382:

Forms