trephine Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
    trepan.
  2. verb operate on with a trephine

WordNet

Tre*phine" noun
Etymology
A dim. of 1st trepan: cf. F. tréphine.
Definitions
  1. (Surg.) An instrument for trepanning, being an improvement on the trepan. It is a circular or cylindrical saw, with a handle like that of a gimlet, and a little sharp perforator called the center pin.
Tre*phine" transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Trephined ; present participle & verbal noun Trephining
Definitions
  1. To perforate with a trephine; to trepan.

Webster 1913