post-opadj.n.
/ˌpəʊstˈɒp/, U.S. /ˈpoʊsˌtɑp/ colloquial.
A. adj.
= postoperative adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > [adjective] > relating to operation > after operation
postoperative1872
post-operation1904
post-op1906
1906 Ann. Rep. Dept. Public Charities City N.Y. 153 (table) Post-op. hemorrhage.
1910 Old Dominion Jrnl. Med. & Surg. Feb. 116 (table) Sarcoma. (Post operative)..Forearm. No recurrence—1 year... Epithelioma. Post op. Orbit. Healing.
1922 Trans. Southern Surg. Assoc. 34 339 (table) Postop. headache, some impediment to speech.
1961 H. S. Becker et al. Boys in White xiii. 249 What he's got is a pericardial friction rub. It's a pretty common post-op finding.
1977 D. Bennett Jigsaw Man 14 He felt he had been sawn in half. The post-op drugs took over.
1988 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 21 Feb. 13/1 Despite his extraordinary ‘post-op’ athletic achievements, the Commonwealth Department of Aviation still considers him unfit for flying.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Sept. ix. 2/1 ‘Tranny’ is short for transgender, a word used to define anyone..from a feminist to a post-op transsexual who wants ‘to transcend the confines of gender’.
B. n.
1. = postoperative n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > patient > [noun] > having undergone operations or treatments > recently
postoperative1898
post-op1922
1922 Med. Pickwick May 185/1 All is dark—Except for The light on the nurse's desk. All is quiet—But for The groan of a post-op.
1941 New Yorker 1 Nov. 77/2 Maternity's a snap compared with post-ops... If you're so keen on post-ops..why don't you go in to my hysterectomy, three forty-five.
1971 ‘E. Candy’ Words for Murder Perhaps vii. 84 I can take temperatures and..make lovely beds for post-ops.
2011 K. C. Kellogg Challenging Operations vi. 125 They're refusing to take post-ops that came out [of the OR] before they arrived.
2. A ward in which postoperative patients are cared for; (also) care given to such patients.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > hospital or infirmary > hospital ward > types of ward
foul ward1734
day ward1801
eye ward1828
casualty ward1836
scarlet ward1888
out-ward1890
observation ward1908
open ward1919
casualty1927
post-op1929
Nightingale ward1930
private1942
surgical1961
SCBU1968
NICU1971
pre-op1991
1929 Directory Social & Health Agencies New York City 538/1 Boys and girls 6-10, orthopaedic cases in plaster casts from hosp. and clinic and post-op., bed cases accepted.
1955 Trumpet Unblown xiii. 132 Once Shelby was working in post-op where a large, rugged-looking infantry sergeant had lost his leg.
1969 L. Van Devanter Let. 29 Dec. in B. Edelman Dear Amer. (2002) v. 190 I've been working nights for a couple of weeks and have been spending a great deal of time in post-op.
1997 Oxford (Oxford Soc.) Nov. 86 In post-op, everything was automated.
2002 J. Eugenides Middlesex iv. 463 You a tranny?.. I know all about pre-op and post-op and all that stuff.
2008 D. Rivera Playing in Dark xv. 159 He needed to get back to the hospital before Michelle woke up in post-op and was taken to her room.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1906