The present article examines the definitions of six medical words (warfarin, thalidomide, lobotomy, gastroscope, cystoscope, paroxysm) in dictionaries of English. The entries in twentyone non-specialist dictionaries were analysed and compared with corresponding passages in eleven medical dictionaries. The formulation of the definitions turned out to vary quite considerably from one volume to another. The variation may in some instances stem from the difficulty of deciding what is linguistic information, what encyclopedic, but the sensitive aspects of the six words are likely to be another contributory factor. The presentation of the medical terms would in many instances benefit from further refinement. The need for cooperation between lexicographers and medical experts is evident. Consultation of medical dictionaries may also be helpful and suggest certain items of information for inclusion in nonspecialist works as well.

中文翻译：

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英语词典中一些敏感医学词汇的定义

本文研究了英语词典中六个医学词汇（华法林、沙利度胺、脑叶切除术、胃镜、膀胱镜、发作）的定义。对21本非专科词典中的词条进行了分析，并与11本医学词典中的相应段落进行了比较。结果证明，从一卷到另一卷，定义的表述差异很大。在某些情况下，这种变化可能源于难以确定什么是语言信息，什么是百科全书，但六个词的敏感方面可能是另一个促成因素。在许多情况下，医学术语的呈现将受益于进一步的细化。词典编纂者和医学专家之间合作的必要性是显而易见的。