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

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

Trephine, tre-fēn′, or tre-fīn′, n. the modern trepan, having a little sharp borer called the centre-pin.—v.t. to perforate with the trephine.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

The large trepan or cutter weighs about 16 tons, and cuts a hole of from 9 to 15 ft. in diameter.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

Well, suppose there's a hundred chances to one the trepan kills him on the spot—what then?' demanded the surgeon, uncomfortably.

From The House by the Church-Yard by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan