trepan

Plural: trepans

Noun

a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull
a drill for cutting circular holes around a center
A tool used to bore through rock when sinking shafts.
A surgical instrument used to remove a circular section of bone from the skull; a trephine.
Alternative spelling of trapan (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks; (archaic or obsolete) person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim”)

Verb

Verb Forms: trepanned, trepanning, trepans

To bore a hole in the skull, typically surgically.
cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery
To create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material remaining by less expensive means.
To use a trepan; to trephine.
Alternative spelling of trapan (“to catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap; (figurative) to trap or trick (someone), especially by using some stratagem, into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim”)

Examples

Sometimes you feel like you need to TREPAN your brain to extract that elusive high-scoring word.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trepan, from Latin trepanum, from Ancient Greek τρύπανον (trúpanon, “auger, borer”). Doublet of trephine.

Synonyms

trephine

Scrabble Score: 8

trepan: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
trepan: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
trepan: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

trepan: valid Words With Friends Word