Forms: see TREPAN sb.1 [f. TREPAN sb.1, or F. trépaner (14th c. in transl. of Lanfranc).] trans. To operate upon with a trepan; to saw through with a trepan, as a bone of the skull. Also absol.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 127 [see TREPAN sb.1 1]. Ibid., 133. Þanne I stoppe þe sijk mannes eeris, þat he mowe not heere þe soun of þe yren þat trepaniþ.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 10 b/1. We trepane or open the sculle.
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 28 Jan. Prince Rupert is … so bad, that he do now yield to be trepanned.
1751. Affect. Narr. of Wager, 145. The poor Surgeon … could … trapan a broken Scull.
1846. [see TREPAN sb.1 1].
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 240. If the skull be trepanned during the condition of acute cerebral compression, the pulsation may be visibly increased.
b. In brush-making: see trepanning, quot. 1877, trepanned, quot. 1891.
Hence Trepanned ppl. a., Trepanning vbl. sb. and ppl. a.: trepanning-elevator, see quot. 1877, and cf. ELEVATOR 2.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 127. Þis manere trepanynge suffiseþ to þee.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 14 b/2. The edges of the trepannede perforatione beinge verye sharpe.
1759. Adam Smith, Mor. Sent., I. II. iii. 72. A trophy … of saws for cutting the bones, of trepanning instruments … would be absurd.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Trepanning. (Brush-making.) The tufts or bristles are drawn into the holes in the stock by means of wire inserted through holes in the edge, which are then plugged. Ibid., Trepanning-elevator, a lever for raising the portion of bone detached by the trephine.
1891. Cent. Dict., Trepanned brush, a drawn brush having the holes for the bristles drilled partially through the stock to meet lateral holes drilled from the edge or end. The tufts of bristles are drawn into these holes by strong silk or thread passing through the laterals.
