stethoscope
UK /ˈstɛθəskəʊp/ · US /ˈstɛθəsˌkoʊp/ noun, verb
Forms stethoscopes stethoscoping stethoscoped
- noun (medicine) A medical instrument used for listening to sounds produced within the body.
- verb (transitive) To auscultate, or examine, with a stethoscope.
Etymology
Borrowed from French stéthoscope, a word coined by its inventor, physician René Laennec, equivalent to stetho- + -scope.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument used in auscultation for examining the organs of the chest, as the heart and lungs, by conveying to the ear of the examiner the sounds produced in the thorax.
- verb To auscultate, or examine, with a stethoscope. M. W. Savage.
Etymology [Gr. -scope: cf. F. stéthoscope.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stethoscope”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details