Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cautery \Cau"ter*y\, n.; pl. {Cauteries}. [L. cauterium, Gr. ?.
   See {Cauter}.]
   1. (Med.) A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, with a
      hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn,
      corrode, or destroy animal tissue.

   2. The iron of other agent in cauterizing.

   {Actual cautery}, a substance or agent (as a hot iron) which
      cauterizes or sears by actual heat; or the burning so
      effected.

   {Potential cautery}, a substance which cauterizes by chemical
      action; as, lunar caustic; also, the cauterizing produced
      by such substance.

Source : WordNet®

cautery
     n 1: an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for
          medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it
          with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or
          by freezing it [syn: {cauterant}]
     2: the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a
        hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing [syn: {cauterization},
         {cauterisation}]