Barostats

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Devices or agents that keep pressure steady, especially instruments that maintain blood pressure at a set level during surgery or treatment
2. Pressure-regulating mechanisms that hold a fluid or gas at a constant level, particularly drugs or machines used to control blood pressure
3. Apparatus or medications that automatically counteract changes in pressure, most often used in medicine to stabilize a patient's blood pressure

Etymology: "Barostats" is the plural of "barostat," a device that keeps pressure at a set level. The word is built from two Greek-derived pieces: "baro-," from Greek "baros," meaning weight, and "-stat," from Greek "statos," meaning standing or stationary, the same element found in "thermostat." Put together, the sense is something like "weight-steadying" device, a regulator that holds a pressure steady much as a thermostat holds temperature. The first part connects to the familiar "barometer," which also takes its opening from Greek "baros" and was coined for an instrument that measures air pressure. The "-stat" ending gives the word its controlling sense: a barostat does not merely read pressure but keeps it fixed, adjusting itself as conditions change.