lobotomy
American Heritage Dictionary:
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lo·bot·o·my
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lobotomy
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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lobotomy
Surgical procedure in which nerve pathways in a lobe or lobes of the brain are severed from those in other areas. Introduced in 1935 by Antnio Egas Moniz and Almeida Lima, it came to be used to help grossly disturbed patients. Favoured for patients who did not respond to shock therapy, it did reduce agitation but often caused increased apathy and passivity, inability to concentrate, and decreased emotional response. It was widely performed until 1956, when drugs that were more effective in calming patients became available. Lobotomies are no longer performed; however, psychosurgery, the surgical removal of specific regions of the brain, is occasionally used to treat patients whose symptoms have resisted all other treatments.
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1. What a hacker subjected to formal management training is said to have undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter doubtless intend it as a joke.
2. The act of removing the processor from a microcomputer in order to replace or upgrade it. Some very cheap clone systems are sold in lobotomized form — everything but the brain.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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lobotomy
lobotomy (lōbŏt'əmē, lə-), surgical procedure for cutting nerve pathways in the frontal lobes of the brain. The operation has been performed on mentally ill patients whose behavioral patterns were not improved by other forms of treatment. The procedure as pioneered by Nobel laureate Egas Moniz in the 1930s consisted of drilling holes through the skull and severing or interfering with nerve fibers to the midbrain, particularly to the thalamus. In a later development, instruments were passed through the eye sockets to sever the connections.
Lobotomies were performed on numerous patients between 1936 and 1956. In approximately one half there was at least temporary relief of symptoms. However, some patients exhibited worse behavior after the operation, and others whose tensions were relieved by the surgery degenerated to a vegetative state. Since the mid-1950s such psychosurgery has been largely abandoned in favor of less radical means of treatment, e.g., the administration of tranquilizers and other chemical substances. Most psychiatrists today do not view lobotomy as an acceptable form of treatment.
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(luh-bot-uh-mee, loh-bot-uh-mee)Because people who have had a lobotomy often become quite passive after the operation, the term is often used to refer to someone who shows a lack of response or reaction: “She was so tired she just sat there as if she had been lobotomized.”
A surgical incision into one or more of the nerve masses in the front of the brain. A lobotomy may be performed for the relief of certain mental disorders, although it has been largely abandoned in favor of less radical treatments.
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:
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lobotomy
Cutting of nerve fibers connecting a lobe of the brain with the thalamus. In most cases the affected parts are the prefrontal or frontal lobes; thus the operation is referred to as prefrontal, or frontal, lobotomy. Performed in humans as a form of psychosurgery. It has been applied in dogs for the treatment of aggressive behavior, but is of limited usefulness.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'lobotomy'
- Procedures - lobotomy: cutting into skull to sever nerve fibers connecting thalamus with frontal lobes of brain, formerly used to treat mental disorders
Translations:
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Lobotomy
Dansk (Danish)
n. - lobotomi, det hvide snit
Nederlands (Dutch)
lobotomie, operatieve verwijdering van kwab
Français (French)
n. - lobotomie
Deutsch (German)
n. - (Med.) Leukotomie
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ιατρ.) λοβοτομή, λοβοτομία
Português (Portuguese)
n. - lobotomia (f) (Med.)
Русский (Russian)
лоботомия, разрез доли органа
Español (Spanish)
n. - lobotomía
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (läk.) lobotomi, leukotomi
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
脑白质切断术, 叶切断术
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 腦白質切斷術, 葉切斷術
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) الجراحه الفصيه, جراحه تجرى في فصوص المخ الجبهيه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - כריתת אונת-המוח
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Health
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and
James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Saunders Veterinary Dictionary
Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.
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