bulldog clip

English

WOTD – 26 August 2018

Etymology

A bulldog clip (sense 1) used to hold pieces of paper together

Surgical bulldog clips (sense 2)

Regarding sense 1 (“binder clip with rigid handles”), Bulldog was originally a trademark registered to Brandsley Limited in the United Kingdom in 1944.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊldɒɡ ˈklɪp/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊlˌdɔɡ ˈklip/
Hyphenation: bull‧dog clip

Noun

bulldog clip (plural bulldog clips)

A binder clip with rigid handles.
(surgery) A surgical instrument with serrated jaws and a spring-loaded handle used to grip blood vessels or similar organs.
- 1886, Christopher Heath, Dictionary of Practical Surgery, volume 1, page 660:
  When filled, a bulldog clip-forceps on the india-rubber tube, close to the canula, will prevent the escape of the water on transferring the syringe to position.
- 1919, Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, Mammalian Physiology: A Course of Practical Exercises, page 142:
  Objections to the bulldog clip are that, in students' hands at least, it is more likely to do damage and lead to clotting than is the thread-loop, and that, on account of its small size and liability to be left by the student in the wound, it is apt to be lost, e.g. thrown away with the carcase when the tables are cleared after the class-meeting.
- 1939, Dennis Emerson Jackson, Experimental pharmacology and materia medica, page 487:
  The ligated vessel is pulled through the cannula and a bulldog clip is placed below the ligature.
- 2017, Miguel A. Cuesta, Minimally Invasive Surgery for Upper Abdominal Cancer, page 310:
  A bulldog clip can be placed on the artery to produce temporary exclusion when an assessment of the anatomy and ischemic line is needed.

References

“bulldog clip” (US) / “bulldog clip” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.