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Noun edit

venesection (countable and uncountable, plural venesections)

  1. (medicine) Cutting open or exposing a vein; phlebotomy.
    Synonym: venipuncture
    • 1676, Richard Wiseman, “Of Lepra, or Elephantiasis”, in Several Chirurgicall Treatises, London: Printed by E. Flesher and J[ohn] Macock, for R[ichard] Royston [], and B[enjamin] Took [], →OCLC, 1st book (A Treatise of Tumours), page 139:
      She had paſſed through the milder Remedies frequently without ſucceſs: upon which account I deſigned Mercurialls; and beginning with Venæſection, afterwards purged her with decoct. epithymi, as it is preſcribed in the method of Cure.
    • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 74:
      His teachings on plethora and venesection remained influential until the nineteenth century.

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