cautery - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Latin cauterium (“branding iron”).

cautery (usually uncountable, plural cauteries)

  1. (surgery) The use of either extreme heat or extreme cold to either cut or seal body tissue.
    • 1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 129:
      Modern doctors nod benignly at some of the remedies and principles in Bald's Leechbook, but none has a good word to say for bloodletting - nor for cautery, the other medieval method of balancing the humours.
  2. (surgery) A device used for cutting or sealing body tissue. (clarification of this definition is needed)

process of cutting or sealing body tissue with heat or cold

device used for cutting or sealing body tissue

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