trephine

American  

[trih-fahyn, -feen] / trɪˈfaɪn, -ˈfin /

noun

1. a small circular saw with a center pin mounted on a strong hollow metal shaft to which is attached a transverse handle: used in surgery to remove circular disks of bone from the skull.

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verb (used with object)

trephined, trephining

1. to operate upon with a trephine.

trephine British  

/ trɪˈfiːn, ˌtrɛfɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. a surgical sawlike instrument for removing circular sections of bone, esp from the skull

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verb

1. (tr) to remove a circular section of bone from (esp the skull)

Other Word Forms

• trephination noun

Etymology

Origin of trephine

1620–30; spelling variant of trefine, originally trafine, blend of trapan (variant of trepan ¹ ) and Latin phrase trēs fīnēs three ends (the inventor's explanation)

Example Sentences

We aspirated all brain tissue inside the trephine.

From Nature • Mar. 21, 2017

It is even probable that the trephine holes found in prehistoric skulls 50,000 years old were made for curative purposes.

From Time Magazine Archive

He has already applied the trephine to the cold-storage eye which an assistant holds by means of sterile gauze.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sharp point of this she pressed into her scalp over a trephine hole.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is very difficult for one of limited experience to discuss a subject presented so ably by Lieutenant Colonel Elliot to whom we are indebted for the sclero-corneal trephine operation.

From Glaucoma A Symposium Presented at a Meeting of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, November 17, 1913 by Nance, Willis O.