trepan

Meanings

Noun

• A tool used to bore through rock when sinking shafts.
• A surgical instrument used to remove a circular section of bone from the skull; a trephine.
• A trickster.
• A snare; a trapan.

Verb

• To create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material remaining by less expensive means.
• To use a trepan; to trephine.
• To ensnare; to seduce, to trick.

Origin

• Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trepan, from Latin trepanum, from Ancient Greek τρύπανον ("auger, borer"). trephine.
• Possibly from Old English treppan ("to trap").