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obtund

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

WOTD – 24 September 2008

Etymology

Latin obtundere (“to dull", "deaden", "deafen”), from ob- (see ob-) + tundere. More at obtuse.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /əbˈtʌnd/, /ɒbˈtʌnd/
(US) IPA^(key): /əbˈtʌnd/, /ɑbˈtʌnd/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ʌnd

Verb

obtund (third-person singular simple present obtunds, present participle obtunding, simple past and past participle obtunded)

(transitive, chiefly medicine) To reduce the edge or effects of; to mitigate; to dull.
- 1900, Martha M. Allen, Alcohol, a Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine‎^[1], page 319:
  […] the use of alcoholic decoctions […] which are given as medicines to allay pain, obtund nerve sensibility, to cure the little sufferer of his vital manifestations […]
- 2008, Jerrold H. Levy, Kenichi A. Tanaka, Eric J. Okun, “Cardial Surgical Pharmacology”, in Cardiac Surgery in the Adult‎^[2], →ISBN, page 103:
  Small doses of opioids are also useful in obtunding airway reflexes […]

Synonyms

(dull or mitigate): blunt, deaden

Derived terms

obtundity

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)tewd- (0 c, 22 e)

Translations

to dull

Bulgarian: притъпявам (bg) (pritǎpjavam)
Finnish: hillitä (fi), rajoittaa (fi)
German: abstumpfen (de)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: døyve (no), dulme

Anagrams

Dubton

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