bdellatomy

English

Etymology

Irregularly formed as Ancient Greek βδέλλᾰ (bdéllă, “leech”) + -tomy (from -τοµία (-toµía, “a cutting”); from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”); the etymological spelling is bdellotomy.

Noun

bdellatomy (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) The snipping off the tail of a leech engaged in sucking human blood, in order to let the blood run out of it and so increase its powers of drawing blood.
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