stethoscope

American  

[steth-uh-skohp] / ˈstɛθ əˌskoʊp /

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. an instrument used in auscultation to convey sounds in the chest or other parts of the body to the ear of the examiner.

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stethoscope British  

/ ˈstɛθəˌskəʊp, stɛˈθɒskəpɪ, ˌstɛθəˈskɒpɪk /

noun

1. med an instrument for listening to the sounds made within the body, typically consisting of a hollow disc that transmits the sound through hollow tubes to earpieces

2. Also called: obstetric stethoscope.  a narrow cylinder expanded at both ends to recieve and transmit fetal sounds

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stethoscope Cultural  

1. An instrument used in listening to internal body sounds. Most familiarly, physicians and nurses use it to listen to heart sounds.

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Other Word Forms

• stethoscoped
  adjective
• stethoscopic
  adjective
• stethoscopist
  noun
• stethoscopy
  noun
• unstethoscoped
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of stethoscope

First recorded in 1810–20; stetho- + -scope

Explanation

A stethoscope is the device that doctors and nurses use to listen to your heartbeat. Many medical workers walk around wearing stethoscopes around their necks. Made up of the Greek stethos, "chest or breast," and the suffix -scope, "an instrument for seeing," the meaning of stethoscope is fairly straightforward. It's an instrument that's used to "see," or more accurately, to hear, inside your chest. During a medical exam, your doctor will listen to your heartbeat and the sound your lungs make as you breathe deeply. Veterinarians use stethoscopes too, for listening to their animal patients' hearts and lungs.

Example Sentences

“At my hospital, they’ve changed their policy and put paralytics into a rapid intubation kit because of this,” said Janie Harvey Garner, who founded the nurse advocacy organization Show Me Your Stethoscope.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 30, 2022

Janie Harvey Garner, who founded the nurse advocacy organization Show Me Your Stethoscope, disagreed.

From Fox News • Mar. 27, 2022

There was a May 1963 clipping from the hospital’s newsletter, which was called The Stethoscope News.

From Scientific American • Nov. 18, 2021

Stethoscope dangling around his neck, he kicked at the crumbling ice with his leather shoes, which instantly became soaked.

From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2015

No one less than Laennec could have written the 'Treatise on Mediate Auscultation and the Use of the Stethoscope.'

From Makers of Modern Medicine by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)