cautery

[kaw-tuh-ree]

noun, plural cau·ter·ies.

an escharotic substance, electric current, or hot iron used to destroy tissue.

the process of destroying tissue with a cautery.

Origin of cautery

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin cautērium < Greek kautḗrion, equivalent to kautḗr branding iron (see cauterize) + -ion diminutive suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cautery

Historical Examples of cautery

They tell me the cautery, if dexterously applied, is better; but I have not tried it.
The Fortunes Of Glencore
Charles James Lever
If the spurting blood should cool the cautery, take another.
Old-Time Makers of Medicine
James J. Walsh
The cancer had taken firm hold, and was beyond the reach of any cautery.
The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi
Count Carlo Gozzi
The cautery may, if necessary, be reintroduced several times.
Lameness of the Horse
John Victor Lacroix
There are some diseases so terrible that they must be cured by the knife and the cautery.
The Battle of Principles
Newell Dwight Hillis

British Dictionary definitions for cautery

cautery

noun plural -teries

the coagulation of blood or destruction of body tissue by cauterizing

Also called: cauterant an instrument or chemical agent for cauterizing

Word Origin for cautery

C14: from Old French cautère, from Latin cautērium; see cauterize

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cautery

1540s, from Latin cauterium "branding iron," from Greek kauterion (see cauterize).

cautery in Medicine

cautery

[kô′tə-rē]

n.

An agent or instrument used to destroy tissue by burning, searing, cutting, or scarring, including caustic substances, electric currents, and lasers.

The act or process of cauterizing.

cautery in Science

cautery

[kô′tə-rē]

An agent or instrument used to destroy tissue, as in surgery, by burning, searing, cutting, or scarring, including caustic substances, electric currents, and lasers.