probang

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

probang (plural probangs)

1. A slender elastic rod, as of whalebone, with a sponge on the end, for removing obstructions from the oesophagus, etc.
   • 1885 November, Edinburgh Medical Journal, volume 30, page 479:

     In regard to foreign bodies in the œsophagus, Prof. Chiene's case of the bone, which was not capable of detection by the ordinary probangs and bougies, had some points of similarity […]

Related terms

• probe

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “probang”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)