A tight band or cord wrapped around an arm or leg to stop blood flow, used to control severe bleeding in emergencies.
From French 'tourniquet,' derived from 'tourner' (to turn). It described the original design—a band you'd turn or twist tight using a stick or handle.
Tourniquets were invented during the Napoleonic Wars as military surgeons desperately needed a reliable way to stop limb bleeding before amputation—and they've saved millions of lives since, including in modern battlefield medicine.
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