English

Verb

cauterise ‎(third-person singular simple present cauterises, present participle cauterising, simple past and past participle cauterised)

1. To burn, sear, or freeze tissue using a hot iron, electric current or a caustic agent.
   • 1732, George Smith, Institutiones Chirurgicæ: or, Principles of Surgery, [...] To which is Annexed, a Chirurgical Dispensatory, [...], London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet, OCLC 745299684, page 254:

     […] Lanfrank takes Notice of Tract. 3. Doct. 3. cap. 18. ſaying, "I have ſeen many who being full of Humours, have made an Iſſue under the Knee, before due Purgation had been premis'd; whence, by reaſon of the too great Defluxion of Humours, the Legs tumified, ſo that the cauterized Place corrupted, and a Cancer (or rather cacoethic Ulcer) was thereby made, with which great Difficulty was cur'd."

   • 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 198

     Just when you think you are extricating yourself, just when you think you are cauterised and ready to leave, it resurfaces. Once you've been infected, you're never again completely free.

Anagrams

• cauteries