- infibulate (v.)
- "to clasp, confine with a buckle, ring, clasp, or the like," especially of the sexual organs, to prevent copulation, 1620s, from Latin infibulatus, past participle of infibulare "to close with a clasp," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + fibula "a clasp, pin" (see fibula). Related: Infibulated.
This operation was very generally practised in antiquity upon both young men and young women, but in later times chiefly upon the latter; and it is said to be still in use in some parts of the East. [Century Dictionary, 1902]
