cautery

American  

[kaw-tuh-ree] / ˈkɔ tə ri /

noun

• cauteries
  plural

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

2. the process of destroying tissue with a cautery.

---

cautery British  

/ ˈkɔːtərɪ /

noun

1. the coagulation of blood or destruction of body tissue by cauterizing

2. Also called: cauterant.  an instrument or chemical agent for cauterizing

---

cautery Scientific  

/ kô′tə-rē /

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cauteries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cautery

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cautery cauteries

The procedure is said to be faster than other ablation techniques like cautery or freezing, and less likely to damage the esophagus, which lies next to the atrium.

From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2021

Recognition that brain tumors may develop suddenly and rapidly, that the electric cautery knife makes possible more complete removal of brain and spinal cord tumors.

From Time Magazine Archive

As for acupuncture and cautery, six clinics are giving wholesale treatments for more than 200 maladies, including nervous breakdown, chronic rheumatism, headaches, facial paralysis, high blood pressure and menstrual disorders.

From Time Magazine Archive

After circulating a questionnaire, Dr. Vinnard found that in many cases, hospitals and doctors used the old cautery method because they thought the law required them to, or because public-health officials prescribed it.

From Time Magazine Archive

The evil, Wolsey had admitted, was too far gone for gentle treatment: it needed cautery and incision; but they must proceed cautiously.

From The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry VIII by J.A. Froude

To day surgeons use scalpels and electric cauteries to excise cancers.

From Time Magazine Archive

Doctors have tried to help similar patients with cauteries and radium, but always unsuccessfully, and Mrs. Ribicoff refused these treatments.

From Time Magazine Archive

Physic and philosophy are cultivated among the Indians, and the Chinese have some skill in medicine; but that almost entirely consists in the art of applying hot irons or cauteries.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Robert Kerr

The wound in the shoulder is miraculously healing, without either blood-letting or cauteries.

From To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston

Guy de Chauliac's Cauteries:--5, 6, 7, 8, cauteries called from their shapes: knife, sword, olive, date kernel; 9, cautery with protective nail to be inserted cold; 10, protective plate for cauteries.

From The Popes and Science The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time by James J. Walsh