cautery
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (2)
- 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 itSynonyms: cauterant
- the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezingSynonyms: cauterizationcauterisation
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.(Med.) A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, with a hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn, corrode, or destroy animal tissue. [1913 Webster]
2.The iron of other agent in cauterizing. [1913 Webster]
Actual cautery, a substance or agent (as a hot iron) which cauterizes or sears by actual heat; or the burning so effected.
Potential cautery, a substance which cauterizes by chemical action; as, lunar caustic; also, the cauterizing produced by such substance. [1913 Webster]