Adjacent Words

Cautery definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CAUTERY, n. A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, by a hot iron or by caustic medicines that burn, corrode or destroy any solid part of an animal body. The burning by a hot iron is called actual cautery; that by caustic medicines, potential cautery.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it [syn: cautery, cauterant]
2: the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing [syn: cautery, cauterization, cauterisation]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -teries) Etymology: Latin cauterium, from Greek kaut?rion branding iron, from kaiein Date: 14th century 1. the act or effect of cauterizing ; cauterization 2. an agent (as a hot iron or caustic) used to burn, sear, or destroy tissue

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) Med. 1 an instrument or caustic for cauterizing. 2 the operation of cauterizing. Etymology: L cauterium f. Gk kauterion: see CAUTERIZE

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.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Application of hot iron. 2. Use of caustics.