Surg. [ad. F. tenotomie: see TENO- and -TOMY.] Cutting or division of a tendon; also attrib., as tenotomy knife. So Tenotome, a surgeon’s slender knife for (subcutaneous) division of tendons; Tenotomist, a surgeon who performs tenotomy; Tenotomize v. trans., to perform tenotomy upon.
1842. Lancet, 31 Dec., 509/1. Discussions in the Académie Royale de la Médicine on the subject of Tenotomy, or the section of the muscular tendons for the relief of club-foot and other … deformities. Ibid. There are two classes of tenotomists, the scientific and able…, and the empirical, or ignorant operators.
1846. Brittan, trans. Malgaigne’s Man. Oper. Surg., 7. Subcutaneous Incisions … may be made with the common straight bistoury, with the tenotome or tendon-knife, or any other special instrument.
1872. T. G. Thomas, Dis. Women (ed. 3), 123. Performed subcutaneously by an ordinary tenotomy knile.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tenotomize.
1901. A. H. Tubby, in Lancet, 12 Jan., 91/2. The tendons on the radial side were tenotomised.
