Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun surgery A
gauze orsurgical sponge left inside apatient's body duringsurgery .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin gossypium, "cotton", and Swahili boma, "concealment".
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Examples
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sionnach commented on the word gossypiboma
A surgical sponge accidentally left inside a patient's body.
January 14, 2008
uselessness commented on the word gossypiboma
Maybe that's why I'm always thirsty!
January 15, 2008
sionnach commented on the word gossypiboma
Just stopping by to admire the remarkable specificity of this word.
November 4, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word gossypiboma
It sounds to me like a very good way to hide the truth when people read the patient's file.
(Why do I have a feeling of déjà vu about my comment?)
November 4, 2008
reesetee commented on the word gossypiboma
You may be right on the mark, Pro!
November 4, 2008
dimã©lion commented on the word gossypiboma
very scary!
June 18, 2009
rolig commented on the word gossypiboma
The unreferenced Wikipedia page for this word says that it combines 'the Latin "gossypium" (cotton) and the Swahili "boma" (place of concealment)'. Now that is truly a bizarre hybrid.
June 18, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word gossypiboma
I'm with Quinion on this one. It's less likely that someone (Williams, Bragg & Nelson 1978?) created it with a specific Swahili word in mind, than that it's suffixed with a semi-arbitrary -b- (an error or echo of -bi(o)-?) and ordinary Greek -oma, then they (or someone) fortuitously noticed boma in an English dictionary.
June 18, 2009
Xina54 commented on the word gossypiboma
A gauze or surgical sponge left inside a patient's body during surgery.
February 19, 2011
sionnach commented on the word gossypiboma
The "examples" for this word seem to have gone a bit off the rails. Eh, Tiger?
November 9, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word gossypiboma
The tags are funny, though.
November 9, 2011