stylet
(ˈstaɪlɪt)
Forms: 7–9 stilet, 8 stillet, 9 stillette, 8– stylet.
[a. F. stylet, ad. It. stiletto: see stiletto.]
1. Surg. A slender probe. Also, a wire run through a catheter or canula in order to stiffen it or to clear it.
| 1697 Phil. Trans. XIX. 458, I thrust a Stilet or Probe into the Cavity of the Vertebres. 1722 Ibid. XXXII. 84 First, Pass the Catheter,..then draw out the Stillet. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 226, I found the instrument [a catheter] advance suddenly for the space of half an inch, but on with⁓drawing the stillette, nothing but a few drops of blood followed. 1846 F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 271 Ware accidentally observed that when a metallic stylet is placed in the canal, the overflow of tears almost immediately ceases... His stylet is a metallic wire about an inch and a quarter long... The patient wears it all his life. 1864 T. Holmes' Syst. Surg. IV. 1047 In addition to these, the Surgeon should have a dozen elastic catheters, in graduated series, fitted with wire stilettes, and a few straight solid bougies. 1871 Meadows Man. Midwifery (ed. 2) 349 The first step to be taken is to puncture the membranes. This may readily be done by means of a stilet, or a common hair⁓pin. 1894 Lancet 3 Nov. 1033 If necessary, a stylet, passed through the puncture for stop, can be used for introduction. The fixation with two catheters, done in the first instance, is useful on emergency. |
2. † a. Bot. = style n. 8.
| 1720 P. Blair Bot. Ess. i. 14 The Pistillum or Pestil, the Stylus or Stillet, the Apices or Tops. 1723 Phil. Trans. XXXII. 444 This Stylet ordinarily splits into 3 Parts, just opposite to the Top of the Stamina. |
b. Zool. = style n. 9, 10.
| 1834 McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 456 In Stratiomys..the antennæ are much longer than the head, the first and last joint being greatly elongated; the latter is fusiform,..consisting of at least five distinct rings, without an abrupt stilet at the extremity. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 492/2 In the Dragon⁓flies there are small flattened appendages..which are called stylets. 1872 A. S. Packard Guide Study Insects (ed. 3) 58 The abdomen is now pointed at the extremity and divided into the rudiments of the two anal stylets, which form large, acute tubercles. 1889 Hardwicke's Sci.-Gossip XXV. 213/1, A crystalline stylet..found in the stomach of some snails. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 944 This veneno-salivary gland is situated in the head of the mosquito, communicating by means of a long duct with the base of the middle stylet or lingula. |
† 3. = style n. 1, stylus 1. Obs.
| 1750 Freeman Herculaneum in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 139 A sort of standish, or inkhorn, in which were found many stylets or pens, with which they wrote in those days. |
b. A kind of pencil for the use of the blind.
| 1819 tr. Guillié's Ess. Blind (1894) 97 The stilet, or pencil should be held with the thumb, the fore-finger, and the middle-finger... The blind, in general, have the fault of holding the stilet too close between their fingers. 1883 Daily News 17 May 2/3 Girls and lads..writing their exercises with stylets with great rapidity... Others were taking notes with great rapidity by the familiar aid of the stylet and the brass perforated rule. |
c. A pointed marking instrument; a graving tool.
| 1853 C. Brontë Villette xx, The strong hieroglyphics graven as with iron stylet on his brow. Ibid. xli, Her eye grazing me with its hard ray like a steel stylet. 1872 S. Mostyn Perplexity I. xiii. 260 Already I seem to trace the stylet of life in certain lines about my lineaments. 1874 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age vi. 79 Stones used as chisels and stylets by the ice. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 6/1 Sand was placed on the floor, and each time the pendulum passed over it a new track was marked by the stylet in regular deviation. |
4. A stiletto, dagger.
| 1820 Scott Abbot iv, Whether it be a stilet, which we have borrowed from the treacherous Italian, or a dirk. 1842 Browning In a Gondola 108 While..Gian pinions me, Him⁓self has past His stylet thro' my back; I reel. 1866 Meredith Vittoria viii, One sharp scar..he owed to the knife of a friend, by name Sarpo, who had got things ready to betray him, and struck him..but, striking, like a novice, on the bone, the stilet stuck there. |
5. Comb.
| 1878 Brady Copepoda I. 19 Artotrogidæ..Mandibles stilet⁓shaped. 1880 Ibid. III. 12 Stylet-shaped. |