ventouse
English
Etymology
Possibly continuing Middle English ventouse, ventuse, ventose, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman ventuse; or perhaps a reborrowing directly from French ventouse, or both.
Noun
ventouse (plural ventouses)
- (obsolete) A cupping glass.
- 1603, Plutarch, “Platoniqve Questions”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, OCLC 1051546006, question 6, page 1022:
- [I]t commeth at length to fall upon the fleſh which the ventoſe ſticketh faſt unto, and by heating and inchafing, it expreſſeth the humor that is within, into the ventoſe or cupping veſſel.
-
- (medicine) A suction cup-like device used on a baby's head to assist in difficult childbirths.
Alternative forms
- ventose
Verb
ventouse (third-person singular simple present ventouses, present participle ventousing, simple past and past participle ventoused)
- (obsolete) To cup; to use a cupping glass.
Anagrams
- seven out
French
Etymology
From Middle French ventouse, from Old French ventuse, ellipsis of Medieval Latin [cucurbita] ventōsa. Doublet of venteux and ventôse.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɑ̃.tuz/
Noun
ventouse f (plural ventouses)
- plunger
- suction cup
- cupping glass
- ventouse
- (biology) sucker
- (slang) sucker (a person who sucks; a general term of disparagement)
Verb
ventouse
- inflection of ventouser:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “ventouse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- envoutes, envoûtes