Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cautery; a caustic.
  • Having a caustic or cauterizing action.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A cauterizing substance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any cauterizing substance.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cauterant.

Examples

  • Pepys relates how he met a seaman returning from fighting the Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped with oakum," and as late at least as the Battle of Trafalgar it was customary, in amputations, to treat the bleeding stump with boiling pitch as a cauterant.

    The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.