Definitions

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

  • noun A sharp-pointed surgical instrument, used with a cannula to puncture a body cavity for fluid aspiration.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A surgical instrument used for withdrawing fluid from the body in cases of dropsy, hydrocele, etc.

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

  • noun (Surg.) A stylet, usually with a triangular point, used for exploring tissues or for inserting drainage tubes, as in dropsy.

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

  • noun A pointed hollow cylindrical device used to make small incisions and surgically insert cannulas, etc., into body cavities, or to aspirate fluids.

Etymologies

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

[French trocart : trois, three (from Old French, from Latin trēs; see trei- in Indo-European roots) + carre, side of an instrument (from Old French, from carrer, to square, from Latin quadrāre, from quadrum, square; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots).]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word trocar.

Examples

  • The operation is performed with a combined instrument called the trocar and cannula.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877

  • Yes, I was going to add something about the verb infinitive trocar, but it just seemed that I would have been belaboring the point.

    Trueque 2009

  • Maternal cell contamination of amniotic fluid samples obtained by open needle versus trocar technique of amniocentesis.

    Prenatal Diagnosis 2010

  • Approximately 4 inches lateral to the trocar sheath, a small 1.2 mm needle sheath was also introduced into the amniotic cavity under ultrasound direction.

    Twin Reversed Arterial Perfusion Sequence and Bipolar Cord 2010

  • Under epidural anesthesia, a single 4-mm trocar sheath was placed into the amniotic sac of the recipient twin.

    Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) 2010

  • The Spanglish term "troca" for "truck" and the Spanish verb "trocar" have no relationship other than the spelling. esperanza

    Page 2 2009

  • The Spanglish term "troca" for "truck" and the Spanish verb "trocar" have no relationship other than the spelling.

    Page 2 2009

  • Yes, I was going to add something about the verb infinitive trocar, but it just seemed that I would have been belaboring the point.

    Trueque 2009

  • "Trocar" is also a legitimate Spanish word "trocar" vt 1. [transformar] - -- algo (en algo) 2. [intercambiar] to swap, to exchange 3. [malinterpretar] to mix up.

    Page 2 2009

  • Under epidural anesthesia, a 3-mm skin incision was made under continuous ultrasound guidance, and a 3-mm trocar sheath passed into the common amniotic cavity.

    Twin Reversed Arterial Perfusion Sequence and Bipolar Cord 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • There was even a kind of mocked-up autopsy room, with dissecting tables, guttering, trocars and all.

    - Elizabeth Young, Shrinking

    September 10, 2008

  • (noun) - (1) A cane, or pipe made of silver, or steel, with a sharp-pointed end, us'd in tapping those that are troubled with the dropsy. --Edward Phillips' New World of Words, 1706 (2) An instrument used for evacuating fluids or gases from cavities. It consists of a perforator or stilet, and of a cannula tube which is so adapted to the perforator that when the puncture is made both enter the wound with facility, after which the stilet being withdrawn, the cannula remains in the wound and affords the fluid a ready passage outwards. --Robley Dunglison's Dictionary of Medical Science, 1844 (3) The handle of the trocar is of wood, the cannula of silver, and the perforator of steel. --Samuel Sharp's Treatise on the Operations of Surgery, 1747

    January 27, 2018