trepan1
[trih-pan]
- a tool for cutting shallow holes by removing a core.
- Surgery. an obsolete form of the trephine resembling a carpenter's bit and brace.
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- Machinery. to cut circular disks from (plate stock) using a rotating cutter.
- Surgery. to operate upon with a trepan; trephine.
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Origin of trepan1
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
trepan2
[trih-pan]Archaic.
- a person who ensnares or entraps others.
- a stratagem; a trap.
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- to ensnare or entrap.
- to entice.
- to cheat or swindle.
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Also tra·pan [truh-pan] /trəˈpæn/.
Origin of trepan2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for trepan
Historical Examples
Figs. 141 to 146 are of the connections to the trepan and spears or rods.
But what a thoughtless animal is man,—How very active in his own trepan!
The Human Side of AnimalsRoyal Dixon
The learned doctors held a consultation, and resolved to trepan the skull and extract the worm.
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 MethodCharles Gabriel Le Clerc
The trepan of M. Kind contains some peculiar details, which are shown in Figs. 97, 98.
trepan1
- 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
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- to cut (a hole or groove) with a trepan
- surgery another word for trephine
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Word Origin
C14: from Medieval Latin trepanum rotary saw, from Greek trupanon auger, from trupan to bore, from trupa a hole
trepan2
trapan (trəˈpæn)
- to entice, ensnare, or entrap
- to swindle or cheat
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- a person or thing that traps
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Word Origin
C17: of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for trepan
v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
trepan
(trĭ-păn′)- A trephine.
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- To trephine.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.