tourniquet
Americannoun
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Medicine/Medical, Surgery. any device for arresting bleeding by forcibly compressing a blood vessel, as a bandage tightened by twisting.
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a device for pulling the parts of a wooden piece of furniture together, consisting of a pair of twisted cords passed around the parts.
noun
Etymology
Origin of tourniquet
1685–95; < French, derivative of tourner to turn
Explanation
A tourniquet is a device used to control the flow of blood temporarily. If you cut your knee really badly, the doctor might put a tourniquet on your thigh before operating — to control the blood flow to your knee. A tourniquet is usually used for two purposes in medicine. In surgery, a tourniquet is used to stop the flow of blood to a limb while it is being operated on. In an emergency, a tourniquet is used to control blood loss. By compressing around the veins that bring blood to a limb, a tourniquet stops or slows the flow of blood temporarily.
Vocabulary lists containing tourniquet
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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 • Nov. 5, 2025
A passerby used a belt as a tourniquet to stop him from losing too much blood, saving his life.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
“The rope is wrapped really tightly almost like a tourniquet around its flipper.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2024
The responding officers provided first aid to the sergeant and applied a tourniquet before he was taken to a hospital, where he is recovering.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 28, 2024
He wore a short-sleeve dress shirt that probably fit a few years ago, but now it worked like a tourniquet around his neck and torso.
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
