trepan

[trih-pan]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trepan ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a tool for cutting shallow holes by removing a core.

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

verb (used with object), tre·panned, tre·pan·ning.

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

Surgery. to operate upon with a trepan; trephine.

Origin of trepan

1350–1400; (noun) Middle English trepane < Middle French trepan crown saw < Medieval Latin trepanum < Greek trȳ́panon borer, akin to trŷpa hole, trȳpân to bore; (v) late Middle English trepanen, derivative of the noun

Related formstrep·a·na·tion

[trep-uh-ney-shuh n] /ˌtrɛp əˈneɪ ʃən/, nountre·pan·ner, noun

trepan

[trih-pan]Archaic.

noun

a person who ensnares or entraps others.

a stratagem; a trap.

verb (used with object), tre·panned, tre·pan·ning.

to ensnare or entrap.

to entice.

to cheat or swindle.

Also tra·pan [truh-pan] /trəˈpæn/.

Origin of trepan

1635–45; earlier trapan, equivalent to trap¹ + -an < ?

Related formstrep·a·na·tion, trap·a·na·tion

[trep-uh-ney-shuh n] /ˌtrɛp əˈneɪ ʃən/, nountre·pan·ner, tra·pan·ner, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for trepan

auger, punch, implement, bit, gimlet, trephine, borer, riveter, awl, wimble, corkscrew, jackhammer, dibble, countersink

Examples from the Web for trepan

Historical Examples of trepan

Figs. 141 to 146 are of the connections to the trepan and spears or rods.
Water Supply: the Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells
Ernest Spon
But what a thoughtless animal is man,—How very active in his own trepan!
The Human Side of Animals
Royal Dixon
The learned doctors held a consultation, and resolved to trepan the skull and extract the worm.
The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century
Leo Wiener
Do all the Fractures of the Skull require the use of the Trepan?
The Compleat Surgeon, or the Whole Art of Surgery Explain'd in a Most Familiar Method
Charles Gabriel Le Clerc
The trepan of M. Kind contains some peculiar details, which are shown in Figs. 97, 98.
Water Supply: the Present Practice of Sinking and Boring Wells
Ernest Spon

British Dictionary definitions for trepan

trepan

noun

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

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

the operation of cutting a hole with such a tool
the hole so produced

verb -pans, -panning or -panned (tr)

to cut (a hole or groove) with a trepan

surgery another word for trephine

Derived Formstrepanation (ˌtrɛpəˈneɪʃən), nountrepanner, noun

Word Origin for trepan

C14: from Medieval Latin trepanum rotary saw, from Greek trupanon auger, from trupan to bore, from trupa a hole

trepan

trapan (trəˈpæn)

verb -pans, -panning or -panned (tr)

to entice, ensnare, or entrap

to swindle or cheat

noun

a person or thing that traps

Word Origin for trepan

C17: of uncertain origin

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

Word Origin and History for trepan

c.1400, from French trépaner (14c.), from Medieval Latin trepanum "a saw for cutting out small pieces of bone from the skull," from Greek trypanon, from trypan "to bore," related to trype "hole" (cf. Old Church Slavonic truplu "hollow"), from PIE root *tere- "to rub, turn" (see throw). Related: Trepanned; trepanning.

trepan in Medicine

trepan

[trĭ-păn′]

n.

A trephine.

v.

To trephine.