surgical spirit
- noun
- /ˈsɜːdʒɪkəl ˈspɪrɪt/
- UK
:
espíritu quirúrgico
- The nurse used surgical spirit to clean the patient's skin before the injection.
Examples
-
Those are surgical spirits for medicinal purposes only.
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Just put a little bit of surgical spirit in the lid and get your Q-tip and just put it in a bit of surgical spirit.
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Before the procedure, the doctor applied surgical spirit to disinfect the area.
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For proper hygiene, always use surgical spirit to sanitize your skin before surgery.
Synonyms
6
3.4
A liquid used on skin or surfaces to kill germs and clean
Alcohol made unsafe to drink by adding poisons and used for cleaning or as a fuel
A clear colorless liquid used to clean wounds and dissolve other substances
A clear colorless liquid people use to clean things, dissolve some dirt, and kill germs
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'surgical' (relating to surgery) + 'spirit' (alcohol); together they point to an alcohol used in surgical/medical contexts for cleaning. This is a compositional, non-idiomatic compound and a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer its meaning.
Etymology
Surgical spirit comes from the old use of the word spirit for strong alcohol and the word surgical because surgeons used it to clean skin. So it literally meant 'alcohol for surgery', which is why today it means the liquid used to clean the skin before injections or operations.