[ad. Gr. λιθοτόμον (in sense 1), neut. of λιθοτόμος adj., stone-cutting, f. λίθο-ς stone + -τόμος cutting, τέμνειν to cut. Cf. F. lithotome.]
1. Surg. An instrument for cutting the bladder in lithotomy; more properly called a cystotome.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), 257. I … thrust the Point of the Lithotome cross the Perinæum into its Canula.
1839–47. Todd, Cycl. Anat., III. 934/2. Should the blades of the lithotome … be too widely divaricated … liability to venous hemorrhage … will be the result.
1846. Brittan, trans. Malgaigne’s Man. Oper. Surg., 521. It only remains to incise the prostate and neck of the bladder in withdrawing the lithotome.
2. A stone in its natural state that resembles a stone artificially cut.
1828–32. Webster (citing Dict. Nat. Hist.).
