Definition of trephine

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< trepang

trepid >

tre·phine    (tr-fn) KEY 

NOUN:

A surgical instrument having circular, sawlike edges, used to cut out disks of bone, usually from the skull.

TRANSITIVE VERB:
tre·phined, tre·phin·ing, tre·phines

To operate on with a trephine.

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ETYMOLOGY:
French tréphine, from obsolete English trefine, from Latin trs fns, three ends : trs, three; see trei- in Indo-European roots + fns, pl. of fnis, end

OTHER FORMS:
trephi·nation  (trf-nshn) KEY (Noun)