1. a palpatory technique for feeling a floating object in the body (especially for determining the position of a fetus by feeling the rebound of the fetus after a quick digital tap on the wall of the uterus);
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
ballottement
n 1: a palpatory technique for feeling a floating object in the
body (especially for determining the position of a fetus by
feeling the rebound of the fetus after a quick digital tap
on the wall of the uterus)