trepan
1 Americannoun
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a tool for cutting shallow holes by removing a core.
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Surgery. an obsolete form of the trephine resembling a carpenter's bit and brace.
verb (used with object)
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Machinery. to cut circular disks from (plate stock) using a rotating cutter.
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Surgery. to operate upon with a trepan; trephine.
noun
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a person who ensnares or entraps others.
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a stratagem; a trap.
verb (used with object)
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to ensnare or entrap.
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to entice.
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to cheat or swindle.
noun
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surgery an instrument resembling a carpenter's brace and bit formerly used to remove circular sections of bone (esp from the skull) Compare trephine
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a tool for cutting out circular blanks or for making grooves around a fixed centre
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the operation of cutting a hole with such a tool
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the hole so produced
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verb
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to cut (a hole or groove) with a trepan
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surgery another word for trephine
verb
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to entice, ensnare, or entrap
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to swindle or cheat
noun
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Marshal Ney had a silver trepan in his skull, a bullet wound in his ankle.
From Time Magazine Archive
Fearful things: bonesaws, abdomen retractor, trocar and trepan.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
But, though Pell pronounced that he must die without recovering consciousness, and that the trepan would kill him instantaneously, I had a profound misgiving that he might recover speech and recollection.
From The House by the Church-Yard by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
Fowling has given us cajole, decoy, and trepan.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest
Pooh, nonsense," said the clergyman, "if a man has fractured his skull and you thought it fit to trepan him, would you ask him whether he liked it or not?
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 1, August, 1851 by Various
She fetches down a skull from her mantelpiece and shows me its several trepanned holes.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 10, 2019
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 ● Jun. 8, 2018
Verano spoke with National Geographic about his views on the art and science of trepanning, based on decades of study and more than 800 trepanned skulls.
From National Geographic
This plaster cast of the skull measures 24 inches around the base and shows evidence of having been scarred by bullets and swords, and possibly trepanned.
From Time Magazine Archive
“You’re looking at the trepanned skulls?” he said.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
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 ● Jun. 13, 2023
Beside trepanning, the more radical surgeries included mastectomy, amputation, hernia reduction and cataract couching.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
Come for the trepanning, stay for Judy Davis’s performance as Ratched’s bitter rival, Nurse Bucket.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2020
Verano spoke with National Geographic about his views on the art and science of trepanning, based on decades of study and more than 800 trepanned skulls.
From National Geographic
This process, it said in spidery writing on a card, was called trepanning.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
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.
