tourniquet

American

[tur-ni-kit, toor-] / ˈtɜr nɪ kɪt, ˈtʊər- /

noun

Medicine/Medical, Surgery. any device for arresting bleeding by forcibly compressing a blood vessel, as a bandage tightened by twisting.
a device for pulling the parts of a wooden piece of furniture together, consisting of a pair of twisted cords passed around the parts.

tourniquet British

/ ˈtʊənɪˌkeɪ, ˈtɔː- /

noun

med any instrument or device for temporarily constricting an artery of the arm or leg to control bleeding

"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

Etymology

Origin of tourniquet

1685–95; < French, derivative of tourner to turn

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She said that her partner helped one of the injured passengers by using his belt as a tourniquet.

From BBC

A passerby used a belt as a tourniquet to stop him from losing too much blood, saving his life.

From The Wall Street Journal

Then aged 22, it was Ms Imrie's actions that were credited with saving the life of fellow passenger Paul Mitchell after she tied a tourniquet around his damaged leg.

From BBC

Adrian applied a tourniquet and pinched shut the artery in Dan's thigh to stop him bleeding to death.

From BBC

Sir David described how fellow rugby players stopped to help him, using their ties as tourniquets before he was taken to hospital for life-saving surgery.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023