Tre*pan" (?), n. [F. tr'epan (cf. Sp. tr'epano, It. trepano, trapano), LL. trepanum, fr. Gr. a borer, auger, trepan, fr. to bore, a hole. Cf. Trephine.]

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Tre*pan", v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Trepanned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Trepanning.] [Cf. F. tr'epaner. See Trepan a saw.] 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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Tre*pan", n. [See Trapan.]

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Tre*pan", v. t.

To insnare; to trap; to trapan.

Guards even of a dozen men were silently trepanned from their stations. De Quincey.

 

© Webster 1913.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.