trepan

Meanings

Plural: trepans

Noun

a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
a drill for cutting circular holes around a center
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.
Alternative spelling of trapan (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks; (archaic or obsolete) person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim”)

Verb

cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery
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.
Alternative spelling of trapan (“to catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap; (figurative) to trap or trick (someone), especially by using some stratagem, into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim”)

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trepan, from Latin trepanum, from Ancient Greek τρύπανον (trúpanon, “auger, borer”). Doublet of trephine.

Synonyms

trephine

Scrabble Score: 8

trepan is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
trepan is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
trepan is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

trepan is a valid Words With Friends word