Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a substance that produces anesthesia, as halothane, procaine, or ether.
adjective
- pertaining to or causing physical insensibility: an anesthetic gas.
- physically insensitive: Halothane is used to produce an anesthetic state.
noun Medicine/Medical, Pathology.
noun
- a substance that causes anaesthesia
adjective
- causing or characterized by anaesthesia
noun, adjective
- the usual US spelling of anaesthetic
noun
- local or general loss of bodily sensation, esp of touch, as the result of nerve damage or other abnormality
- loss of sensation, esp of pain, induced by drugs: called general anaesthesia when consciousness is lost and local anaesthesia when only a specific area of the body is involved
- a general dullness or lack of feeling
1846, “insensible,” from Greek anaisthetos “insensate, without feeling; senseless, stupid” (see anaesthesia). Noun meaning “agent that produces anesthesia” first used in modern sense 1848 by Scottish doctor James Young Simpson (1811-1870), discoverer of the surgical uses of chloroform.
1721, “loss of feeling,” Modern Latin, from Greek anaisthesia “want of feeling, lack of sensation (to pleasure or pain),” from an- “without” (see an- (1)) + aisthesis “feeling,” from PIE root *au- “to perceive” (see audience). As “a procedure for the prevention of pain in surgical operations,” from 1846.
alternative spelling of anaesthetic (q.v.). See ae.
n.
- An agent that reversibly depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation.
adj.
- Characterized by the loss of sensation.
- Capable of producing a loss of sensation.
- Associated with or due to the state of anesthesia.
- A drug that temporarily depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation with or without the loss of consciousness.
A substance that causes loss of sensation or consciousness. With the aid of an anesthetic, people can undergo surgery without pain. (See general anesthetic and local anesthetic.)