Tre*pan" (?), n. [F. tr'epan (cf. Sp. tr'epano, It. trepano, trapano), LL. trepanum, fr. Gr. a borer, auger, trepan, fr. to bore, a hole. Cf. Trephine.]
1. Surg.
A crown-saw or cylindrical saw for perforating the skull, turned, when used, like a bit or gimlet. See Trephine.
2. Mining
A kind of broad chisel for sinking shafts.
© Webster 1913.
Tre*pan", v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Trepanned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Trepanning.] [Cf. F. tr'epaner. See Trepan a saw.] Surg.
To perforate (the skull) with a trepan, so as to remove a portion of the bone, and thus relieve the brain from pressure or irritation; to perform an operation with the trepan.
© Webster 1913.
Tre*pan", n. [See Trapan.]
1.
A snare; a trapan.
Snares and trepans that common life lays in its way.
South.
2.
a deceiver; a cheat.
He had been from the beginning a spy and a trepan.
Macaulay.
© Webster 1913.
Tre*pan", v. t.
To insnare; to trap; to trapan.
Guards even of a dozen men were silently trepanned from their stations.
De Quincey.
© Webster 1913.