I. wound 1 /waʊnd/ BrE AmE
the past tense and past participle of ↑ wind 2
II. wound 2 /wuːnd/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: wund ]
1 . an injury to your body that is made by a weapon such as a knife or a bullet:
A nurse cleaned and bandaged the wound.
It took several months for his wounds to heal.
suffer/receive a wound
Several of the victims suffered severe stab wounds.
head/leg etc wound
He was treated in hospital for head wounds.
stab/knife/gunshot wound
He died of gunshot wounds.
The doctor said it was only a flesh wound (=one that does not cut the skin very deeply) .
a gaping wound (=one that is wide and open) on his thigh
2 . a feeling of emotional or mental pain that you get when someone says or does something unpleasant to you:
It will take much longer for the mental wounds to heal.
3 . open old wounds to remind someone of unpleasant things that happened in the past
⇨ lick your wounds at ↑ lick 1 (6), ⇨ rub salt into the wound at ↑ rub 1 (6)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + wound
▪ serious/severe/bad
He was taken to Broomfield Hospital with serious head wounds.
▪ deep
Surgeons had to put three stitches in a deep wound in his shoulder.
▪ minor
His wounds, luckily, were minor.
▪ a head/leg etc wound
The victim died of chest wounds.
▪ a stab/knife wound
Her body was found with 37 stab wounds at her home in William Street.
▪ a gunshot/bullet wound
Deaths from gunshot wounds have soared in this part of London.
▪ a war wound
He walked with a limp, the result of an old war wound.
▪ a flesh wound (=one that does not injure bones or parts inside the body)
It’s only a flesh wound and will heal in ten days or so.
▪ an open wound (=one where the skin has not yet healed)
Sports players should not continue to play with open wounds.
▪ a gaping wound (=one that is wide and open)
Blood spurted from his gaping wounds.
▪ the entry/exit wound (=where a bullet enters or leaves someone’s body)
The exit wound was only slightly larger than the entry wound.
■ verbs
▪ suffer/receive a wound
The victim had suffered multiple wounds to his back and stomach.
▪ inflict a wound
These fish can inflict serious wounds.
▪ dress a wound (=clean it and cover it with cloth)
The nurse dressed my wound.
▪ clean/bathe a wound
She finished cleaning the wound and began bandaging the arm.
▪ a wound heals
The wound is healing nicely.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ injury damage to part of your body caused by an accident or an attack:
The passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
▪ wound an injury, especially a deep cut in your skin made by a knife, bullet, or bomb:
He died of a gunshot wound to the head.
▪ cut a small injury made when a sharp object cuts your skin:
Blood was running from a cut on his chin.
▪ bruise a dark mark on your skin that you get when you fall or get hit:
Jack often comes home from playing rugby covered in bruises.
▪ graze/scrape a small injury that marks your skin or breaks the surface slightly:
She fell off her bike and got a few grazes on her legs and knees.
▪ gash a long deep cut:
He had a deep gash across his forehead.
▪ bump an area of skin that is swollen because you have hit it against something:
How did you get that bump on your head?
▪ sprain an injury to your ↑ ankle , ↑ wrist , knee etc, caused by suddenly twisting it:
It’s a slight sprain – you should rest your ankle for a week.
▪ strain an injury to a muscle caused by stretching it or using it too much:
a muscle strain in his neck
▪ fracture a crack or broken part in a bone:
a hip fracture
III. wound 3 W3 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to injure someone with a knife, gun etc:
Gunmen killed two people and wounded six others in an attack today.
be badly/seriously/critically etc wounded
Five people were killed and many others were seriously wounded in the attack.
be mortally/fatally wounded (=be wounded so badly that you die)
2 . to make someone feel unhappy or upset SYN hurt :
I was deeply wounded by his comments.
He made some very wounding remarks.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ be badly/seriously wounded
Her husband was seriously wounded in the attack.
▪ be critically wounded (=be so badly wounded that you might die)
He was critically wounded in the attack.
▪ be mortally/fatally wounded
On that same day, he was mortally wounded by an assassin.
▪ be slightly wounded
Two people were shot and slightly wounded.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ to injure yourself or someone else
▪ hurt to damage part of your body, or someone else’s body:
She slipped on the ice and hurt herself badly.
|
Be careful you don’t hurt anyone with that knife.
▪ injure to hurt yourself quite severely, or to be hurt in an accident or fighting:
One of our players has injured his leg, and will be out of the game for weeks.
|
Four people have been seriously injured on the Arizona highway.
▪ wound to deliberately hurt someone using a weapon such as a knife or gun:
The gunmen shot and killed twelve people and wounded three others.
▪ maim /meɪm/ [usually passive] to hurt someone very severely, especially so that they lose an arm, leg etc, often as the result of an explosion:
In countries where there are landmines, people are killed and maimed daily.
▪ break to hurt a part of your body by breaking a bone in it:
The X-ray showed that I had broken my wrist.
▪ bruise to hurt a part of your body when you fall on it or hit it, causing a dark mark to appear on your skin:
Cathy fell off her bike and bruised her legs badly.
▪ sprain/twist to hurt your knee, wrist, shoulder etc by suddenly twisting it while you are moving:
I jumped down from the wall and landed awkwardly, spraining my ankle.
▪ strain/pull to hurt one of your muscles by stretching it or using it too much:
When you are lifting heavy loads, be careful not to strain a back muscle.
▪ dislocate to damage a joint in your body in a way that moves the two parts of the joint out of their normal position:
Our best batsman dislocated his shoulder during training.
▪ paralyse [usually passive] to make someone lose the ability to move part or all of their body:
A climbing accident had left him paralysed from the chest down.