From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cautery \Cau"ter*y\, noun; pl. {Cauteries}. [L. cauterium, Gr. ?. See {Cauter}.]
1. (Med.) A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, with a hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn, corrode, or destroy animal tissue.
2. The iron of other agent in cauterizing.
{Actual cautery}, a substance or agent (as a hot iron) which cauterizes or sears by actual heat; or the burning so effected.
{Potential cautery}, a substance which cauterizes by chemical action; as, lunar caustic; also, the cauterizing produced by such substance.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it [syn: {cauterant}]
2: the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing [syn: {cauterization}, {cauterisation}]
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