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Jan 23, 2018
This week’s theme
Eponyms

This week’s words
fabian
stent
hymeneal
euhemerism
roland

stent
Image: Wikimedia/Blausen.com
Animation of the installation of a stent
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

stent

PRONUNCIATION:
(stent)

MEANING:
noun: A tube inserted into a blocked vessel to keep it open.

ETYMOLOGY:
After the dentist Charles R. Stent (1845-1901). Stent did pioneering work in coming up with a compound that made better molds for dentures. Later, the compound was used to make casts of other body parts and cavities. Stents correct stenosis (narrowing). Earliest documented use: 1878. The word stentorian is also an eponym, but it came from someone else.

USAGE:
“Dr. Zeeterman patted Charles’s lower leg. ‘Charles, can I interest you in a stent today? It would appear that your heart is hungry for a bit more blood than those clogged pipes are giving it.’”
Gary B. Boyd; One Particular Patriot III; AuthorHouse; 2013.

See more usage examples of stent in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same. -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (23 Jan 1783-1842)

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