Adjacent Words

Actual cautery definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Actual Ac"tu*al (#; 135), a. [OE. actuel, F. actuel, L. actualis, fr. agere to do, act.] 1. Involving or comprising action; active. [Obs.] Her walking and other actual performances. --Shak. Let your holy and pious intention be actual; that is . . . by a special prayer or action, . . . given to God. --Jer. Taylor. 2. Existing in act or reality; really acted or acting; in fact; real; -- opposed to potential, possible, virtual, speculative, conceivable, theoretical, or nominal; as, the actual cost of goods; the actual case under discussion. 3. In action at the time being; now exiting; present; as the actual situation of the country. Actual cautery. See under Cautery. Actual sin (Theol.), that kind of sin which is done by ourselves in contradistinction to ``original sin.'' Syn: Real; genuine; positive; certain. See Real.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cautery Cau"ter*y, n.; pl. Cauteries. [L. cauterium, Gr. ?. See Cauter.] 1. (Med.) A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, with a hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn, corrode, or destroy animal tissue. 2. The iron of other agent in cauterizing. Actual cautery, a substance or agent (as a hot iron) which cauterizes or sears by actual heat; or the burning so effected. Potential cautery, a substance which cauterizes by chemical action; as, lunar caustic; also, the cauterizing produced by such substance.