Also tompon. [ad. F. tampon: etymologically a doublet of TAMPION, introduced anew from mod. French.]
1. Surg. A plug or tent inserted tightly into a wound, orifice, etc., to arrest hæmorrhage, or used as a pessary. Also attrib. tampon-screw, an instrument used for inserting or withdrawing this.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., Tampon … Obstet., a less inelegant term for the plug, whether made up of portions of rag, sponge, or a silk handkerchief … in cases of hemorrhage.
1872. T. G. Thomas, Dis. Women (ed. 3), 61. [To] keep the displaced and congested uterus out of the cavity of the pelvis by a tampon of medicated cotton.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Tampon-screw.
1888. Scott. Leader, 14 June, 4/1. The new species of cannula employed … is provided with a tampon, and is constructed [so] as to prevent hæmorrhage.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 438. Tampons are pear-shaped with the thread attached to the lower end.
2. The dabber or inking ball used in lithography and copperplate printing. (So also in French.)
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tompon, the inking-pad of the lithographic printer.
1882. G. Reid, in Encycl. Brit., XIV. 701/1. (Lithography) An engraved stone is printed by using a small wooden tapper or tampon, either round at the sides, flat below, with handle at top, or square, with the corners rounded off.
