trephine

plural trephines

1. medicineA surgical instrument with a cylindrical blade used to remove a circular section of tissue, such as bone or cornea; a trepan.

   They removed a core of bone as well as took a bone marrow aspirate from my right hip using a trephine to exclude me having blood cancer, causing a blood- and serum-stained shirt, a whopping hematoma and a great deal of mental anguish and physical pain in the process!

   Synonyms: trepan

present singular third person trephines · participle present trephining · participle past trephined · past trephined

1. intransitiveTo use a trephine during surgery.

   "We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove the blood clot, for it is evident that the haemorrhage is increasing."

   1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula

2. transitiveTo perforate with a trephine.

   The pony was cast, and trephined, a middle-sized trephine (or bone saw) being used, which removed a circular piece of bone about the size of a two shilling piece, from the face immediately over the air cavity.

   1901 August 16, “Veterinary Departmental Report for May, 1901”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 12, page 382