Trepan

//tɹɪˈpæn// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tool used to bore through rock when sinking shafts.
  2. 2
    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”) alt-of, alternative

    "As for all other Pretences, they are nothing but Death and Damnation, dreſſed up in Fair VVords and Falſe Shevvs; nothing but Ginns, and Snares, and Trepans for Souls; Contrived by the Devil, and Managed by ſuch as the Devil ſets on VVork."

  3. 3
    a drill for cutting circular holes around a center wordnet
  4. 4
    A surgical instrument used to remove a circular section of bone from the skull; a trephine.
  5. 5
    a surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    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. transitive
  2. 2
    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”) alt-of, alternative

    "And haſt thou trepan'd me into a Tabernacle of the Godly? Is this Pious Boarding-houſe a place for me, thou vvicked Varlet?"

  3. 3
    cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery wordnet
  4. 4
    To use a trepan; to trephine.

Synonyms

All synonyms
augerbiteborebroachdrillfix

Example

More examples

"As for all other Pretences, they are nothing but Death and Damnation, dreſſed up in Fair VVords and Falſe Shevvs; nothing but Ginns, and Snares, and Trepans for Souls; Contrived by the Devil, and Managed by ſuch as the Devil ſets on VVork."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

See trapan.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.