ventouse

English

Etymology

Possibly continuing Middle English ventouse, ventuse, ventose, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman ventuse; or perhaps a reborrowing directly from French ventouse, or both.

Noun

ventouse (plural ventouses)

1. (obsolete) A cupping glass.
   • 1603, Plutarch, “Platoniqve Questions”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, question 6, page 1022:

     [I]t commeth at length to fall upon the fleſh which the ventoſe ſticketh faſt unto, and by heating and inchafing, it expreſſeth the humor that is within, into the ventoſe or cupping veſſel.

2. (medicine) A suction cup-like device used on a baby's head to assist in difficult childbirths.

Alternative forms

• ventose

Verb

ventouse (third-person singular simple present ventouses, present participle ventousing, simple past and past participle ventoused)

1. (obsolete) To cup; to use a cupping glass.

Anagrams

• seven out

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French ventouse, from Old French ventuse, ellipsis of Medieval Latin [cucurbita] ventōsa. Doublet of venteux and ventôse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɑ̃.tuz/

Noun

ventouse f (plural ventouses)

1. plunger
2. suction cup
3. cupping glass
4. ventouse
5. (biology) sucker
6. (slang) sucker (a person who sucks; a general term of disparagement)

Verb

ventouse

1. inflection of ventouser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “ventouse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• envoutes, envoûtes