English Explanatory Dictionary

bdellatomy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The snipping off the tail of a leech engaged in sucking human blood, in order to let the blood run out of it and so increase its powers of drawing blood.

Word forms

bdellatomy

Etymology

Irregularly formed as Ancient Greek βδέλλᾰ (bdéllă, “leech”) + -tomy (from -τοµία (-toµía, “a cutting”); from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”); the etymological spelling is bdellotomy.

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