Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long, slender, flexible rod having a tuft or sponge at the end, used to remove foreign bodies from or apply medication to the larynx or esophagus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In surgery, a long and slender elastic rod of whalebone, with a piece of sponge attached to one end, or other similar instrument, for introduction into the esophagus or larynx, as for the application of remedies or the removal of foreign bodies.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A slender elastic rod, as of whalebone, with a sponge on the end, for removing obstructions from the esophagus, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A slender elastic rod, as of whalebone, with a sponge on the end, for removing obstructions from the oesophagus, etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (probably influenced by probe) of earlier provang, perhaps from alteration of obsolete provet, surgical probe, from French éprouvette, from éprouver, to test, try out, from Old French esprover : es-, out (from Latin ex-, ex-) + prover, to prove; see prove.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • A probang is a piece of whalebone with a bit of sponge firmly fixed to one end.

    "For some purposes, such as pushing onward an impacted bolus of food, the sponge probang -- which consists of a small round sponge fixed on a whalebone stem -- is to be preferred."

    June 10, 2015

  • (2) Provang, a whalebone instrument used for cleansing the stomach.

    --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

    January 21, 2018