tenaculum

[tuh-nak-yuh-luhm]

noun

plural

tenacula 

1. Surgery.,  a small sharp-pointed hook set in a handle, used for seizing and picking up parts in operations and dissections.

2. Entomology.,  a clasplike appendage on the abdomen of a springtail, which holds the springing device in place.

tenaculum

/ tɪˈnækjʊləm /

noun

1. a surgical or dissecting instrument for grasping and holding parts, consisting of a slender hook mounted in a handle

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenaculum¹

1685–95; < Latin tenāculum instrument for gripping, equivalent to ten ( ēre ) to hold + -ā- (from v. stems ending in -ā-; gubernaculum ) + -culum -cule ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenaculum¹

C17: from Late Latin, from Latin tenēre to hold

Example Sentences

Using a tenaculum, a scissor-like surgical tool, the physician steadies the cervix.

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“The parts that hurt for some patients — just placing the speculum is uncomfortable — placing the tenaculum is the first part that's not just pressure that can sometimes feel sharp,” Espey told Salon.

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On the first day of training, a doctor had come in, a chic, funny woman who walked through the mechanics of the procedure, passing around medical instruments: a tenaculum, metal dilators.

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Liston closed off the main artery with a square knot and then turned his attention to the smaller blood vessels, which he drew up one by one using a sharp hook called a tenaculum.

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Burns, a collector of early medical photography and devices, gently scolds Radnor for referring to a tenaculum as a shepherd's hook: "That's like referring to rocket propulsion in 1862!"

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