anaesthesia
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology [edit]
an- + aesthesia, from Ancient Greek ἀναισθησία, from ἀν- (an, “not”) with αἴσθησις (aisthēsis, “sensation”).
Coined in 1846 CE by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in a letter to dentist William T. G. Morton, the first practitioner to publicly demonstrate the use of ether during surgery, writing:
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- Everybody wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give a hint or two as to names—or the name—to be applied to the state produced and the agent. The state should, I think, be called ‘Anaesthesia.’ This signifies insensibility—more particularly ... to objects of touch.[1]
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
anaesthesia (countable and uncountable; plural anaesthesias)
- (medicine) A method of preventing sensation, used to eliminate pain.
- Loss or prevention of pain, as caused by anesthesia.
Translations [edit]
loss of bodily sensation
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Related terms [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Small, Miriam Rossiter (1962). Oliver Wendell Homes. Twayne’s United States authors series, 29. New York: Twayne Publishers. OCLC 273508, p. 55
