seton

A few silk threads or horsehairs, or a strip of linen etc., introduced beneath the skin by a knife or needle, so as to induce suppuration; also, the issue so formed.

Noun

  1. A few silk threads or horsehairs, or a strip of linen etc., introduced beneath the skin by a knife or needle, so as to induce suppuration; also, the issue so formed.
    • If the predisposition to the disease has arisen from a plethoric state of the system, or from a turgescence in the vessels of the head, this is to be obviated by bleeding, both generally and topically, but more...
    • The animal was lean and tall, and had a moth-eaten mane, rough hoofs and loose shoes; a seton bobbed up and down on its breast. - 1904, Gustave Flaubert, Over Strand and Field:

Origin

From Middle English seton, setoun, from Medieval Latin sētō, sētōn-.

Forms

setons