operating theater
4
3.7
- noun
- /ˈɑːpəˌreɪtɪŋ ˈθiːətər/
- US
:
quirófano
- The surgery was successful because the team worked efficiently in the operating theater.
- operating theater staff
And the surgeon in Bangkok said, I've booked the operating theatre now.
- And the surgeon in Bangkok said, I've booked the operating theatre now.
Examples
-
In Cape Town, a transplant coordinator conveys a kidney to an operating theater at Groote Schuur Hospital, where heart transplant techniques were pioneered.
Academic text (1998) -
The patient underwent urgent surgical debridement under aseptic conditions in the operating theater.
Academic text (2007) -
Get me in an operating theater now.
-
As soon as the really critical patients had received attention, their turn in an operating theater would come.
Fiction book (2000) -
Frank Burns does not know his way around an operating theatre.
-
I moved forward and found myself in a room overlooking some kind of operating theatre.
-
Further down the corridor are the operating theatres, which the president has paid for.
-
Finally, Whistler turns and heads over to the operating theater.
Fiction book (1998) -
Before the procedure began, the doctor explained the steps they would take in the operating theater.
-
The nurse prepared all the necessary instruments in the operating theater for the upcoming surgery.
Synonyms
57
3.7
A room in a hospital where doctors do operations
46
3.2
A room in a hospital where doctors do surgery
28
4.0
A hospital room where doctors do surgery
How Specialized
- US
4
3.7
30
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
operate + theater
The compound is transparently compositional: 'operating' (= performing surgery) modifies 'theater' so the phrase denotes a theater/room used for operations. Even if 'theater' first suggests performance, the modifier 'operating' disambiguates the meaning and many languages use similar literal compounds (e.g. 'operating room' / 'sala de operaciones'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the sense.
Etymology
Operating theater comes from old hospitals where surgeons worked at a table while students or doctors sat around on rising seats to watch, so the room looked like a small theatre. Because operating means doing surgery and theater is a place for watching, the phrase came to mean 'a room for surgery'.