Dictionary.net

A cylindrical instrument, resembling a sound, usually more or less flexible and yielding, employed in the diagnosis and treatment of strictures of tubular passages, such as the urethra or rectum. It is sometimes made of a soluble material, containing a medicament, and is used for making local applications to the urethra, etc.

A steel or rubber rod for exploring or dilating canals, usually the urethra.

A long slender instrument, made of elastic gum, wax, or metal, for removing obstructions in the bladder; a wax-taper.

A wax candle: Candel'ula, Cande'la, C. ce'rea seu medica'ta, Ce'reum medica'tam, Cere'olus Chirurgo'rnm, Doe'dion, Specil'lum ce'reum, Virga ce'rea, Cere'olus. A flexible cylinder, variable in size, to be introduced into the urethra, oesophagus, rectum, &c., for the purpose of dilating these canals, when contracted. A Simple Bougie is composed of solid and insoluble substances; as plaster, elastic gum, gutta percha, catgut-( Bougie de Corde d boyau,) &c. It acts of course only mechanically.

An instrument for introduction into the urethra or other natural orifice to dilate it.

In pharmacy, a solid preparation in the form of a cylinder for introduction into the urethra or other orifices of the body. [Fr.]

In surgery, a cylindrical instrument, generally flexible, designed for insertion into the urethra or some other canal of the body. Varieties are: acorn-tipped; bulbous; conical; esophageal; filiform; medicated; metallic; b. a boule, one with a bulbous extremity; olive-pointed ; rectal.

n. [French] A long flexible instrument that is introduced into the urethra, esophagus, &c., to remove obstructions, or for other purposes.