trepan Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
    trephine.
  2. noun a drill for cutting circular holes around a center
  3. verb cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery

WordNet

Tre*pan" noun
Etymology
F. trépan (cf. Sp. trépano, It. trepano, trapano), LL. trepanum, fr. Gr. a borer, auger, trepan, fr. to bore, a hole. Cf. Trephine.
Definitions
  1. (Surg.) A crown-saw or cylindrical saw for perforating the skull, turned, when used, like a bit or gimlet. See Trephine.
  2. (Mining) A kind of broad chisel for sinking shafts.
Tre*pan" transitive verb & intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. trépaner. See Trepan a saw.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Trepanned ; present participle & verbal noun Trepanning
Definitions
  1. (Surg.) To perforate (the skull) with a trepan, so as to remove a portion of the bone, and thus relieve the brain from pressure or irritation; to perform an operation with the trepan.
Tre*pan" noun
Etymology
See Trapan.
Definitions
  1. A snare; a trapan.
    Snares and trepans that common life lays in its way. South.
  2. a deceiver; a cheat.
    He had been from the beginning a spy and a trepan. Macaulay.
Tre*pan" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To insnare; to trap; to trapan.
    Guards even of a dozen men were silently trepanned from their stations. De Quincey.

Webster 1913