| wound | 1. A hurt or injury caused by violence; specifically, a breach of the skin and flesh of an animal, or in the substance of any creature or living thing; a cut, stab, rent, or the like. "Showers of blood Rained from the wounds of slaughtered Englishmen." (Shak) 2. An injury, hurt, damage, detriment, or the like, to feeling, faculty, reputation, etc. 3. An injury to the person by which the skin is divided, or its continuity broken; a lesion of the body, involving some solution of continuity. Walker condemns the pronunciation woond as a "capricious novelty." It is certainly opposed to an important principle of our language, namely, that the Old English long sound written ou, and pronounced like French ou or modern English oo, has regularly changed, when accented, into the diphthongal sound usually written with the same letters ou in modern English, as in ground, hound, round, sound. The use of ou in Old English to represent the sound of modern English oo was borrowed from the French, and replaced the older and Anglo-Saxon spelling with u. It makes no difference whether the word was taken from the French or not, provided it is old enough in English to have suffered this change to what is now the common sound of ou; but words taken from the French at a later time, or influenced by French, may have the French sound. <zoology> Wound gall, an elongated swollen or tuberous gall on the branches of the grapevine, caused by a small reddish brown weevil (Ampeloglypter sesostris) whose larvae inhabit the galls. Origin: OE. Wounde, wunde, AS. Wund; akin to OFries. Wunde, OS. Wunda, D. Wonde, OHG. Wunta, G. Wunde, Icel. Und, and to AS, OS, & G. Wund sore, wounded, OHG. Wunt, Goth. Wunds, and perhaps also to Goth. Winnan to suffer, E. Win. 140. Cf. Zounds. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| wound botulism | <microbiology> A form of illness that results from the liberation of botulism toxin from the anaerobic bacteria Clostridium botulinum, found in an infected wound. (27 Sep 1997) |
| wound dehiscence | <surgery> A premature bursting open or splitting along natural or surgical suture lines. A complication of surgery that occurs secondary to poor wound healing. Risk factors include diabetes, advanced age, obesity and trauma during the post-surgical period. (27 Sep 1997) |
| wound fever | Elevation of temperature following an injury. Synonym: symptomatic fever, wound fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wound healing | Restoration of integrity to traumatised tissue. (12 Dec 1998) |
| wound infection | Invasion of the site of trauma by pathogenic microorganisms. (12 Dec 1998) |
| wound myiasis | Traumatic myiasis, the infestation of a surface wound or other open lesion by fly larvae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| crease wound | A tangential wound that makes a furrow without perforating the skin. Synonym: crease wound, glancing wound. (05 Mar 2000) |
| puncture wound | An injury from piercing or penetrating with a pointed object. Any puncture wound through tennis shoes (as with a nail) has a high risk of infection because the foam in tennis shoes can harbor a bacteria (pseudomonas). (12 Dec 1998) |
| septic wound | A wound that has become infected. (05 Mar 2000) |
| seton wound | A tangential perforating wound, the entrance and exit openings being on the same side of the body, head, or limb involved. (05 Mar 2000) |
| stab wound | <surgery> A puncture wound that is generated from the applied force of a sharp object, to make a deep, conical wound. (10 Mar 1998) |
| subcutaneous wound | An injury or wound extending below the skin into the subcutaneous tissue, but not affecting underlying bones or organs. (05 Mar 2000) |
| nonpenetrating wound | Injury, especially within the thorax or abdomen, produced without disruption of the surface of the body. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sucking wound | A free communication between the atmosphere and the pleural space either via the lung or through the chest wall. Synonym: sucking wound. (05 Mar 2000) |