trepan

¹ American  

[trih-pan] / trɪˈpæn /

noun

1. a tool for cutting shallow holes by removing a core.

2. Surgery. an obsolete form of the trephine resembling a carpenter's bit and brace.

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verb (used with object)

trepanned, trepanning

1. Machinery. to cut circular disks from (plate stock) using a rotating cutter.

2. Surgery. to operate upon with a trepan; trephine.

trepan ² American  

[trih-pan] / trɪˈpæn /

Also trapan

noun

1. a person who ensnares or entraps others.

2. a stratagem; a trap.

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verb (used with object)

trepanned, trepanning

1. to ensnare or entrap.

2. to entice.

3. to cheat or swindle.

trepan ¹ British  

/ trɪˈpæn, ˌtrɛpəˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. surgery an instrument resembling a carpenter's brace and bit formerly used to remove circular sections of bone (esp from the skull) Compare trephine

2. a tool for cutting out circular blanks or for making grooves around a fixed centre

3. 1. the operation of cutting a hole with such a tool

   2. the hole so produced

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verb

1. to cut (a hole or groove) with a trepan

2. surgery another word for trephine

trepan ² British  

/ trɪˈpæn, trəˈpæn /

verb

1. to entice, ensnare, or entrap

2. to swindle or cheat

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noun

1. a person or thing that traps

Other Word Forms

• trapanation noun
• trapanner noun
• trepanation noun
• trepanner noun

Etymology

Origin of trepan¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun trepane, from Middle French trepan “surgical crown saw,” from Medieval Latin trepanum, from Greek trȳ́panon “borer,”verb derivative of the noun

Origin of trepan²

First recorded in 1635–45; earlier trapan; of obscure origin; perhaps a derivative of trap ¹

Example Sentences

Most unusual were a bone lever, for putting fractures back in place, and the handle of what appears to have been a drill, for trepanning the skull and extracting impacted weaponry from bone.

From New York Times

Summer meant putting out our eyes with BB guns and accidentally trepanning one another with lawn darts.

From Washington Post

Then there was trepanning, a process of drilling holes in the skull to dispel bad vapors in the brain.

From Washington Post

She fetches down a skull from her mantelpiece and shows me its several trepanned holes.

From The Guardian

But not all trepanned skulls show signs of head injuries, so it’s possible the surgery was also used to treat conditions that left no skeletal trace, such as chronic headaches or mental illnesses.

From Science Magazine