The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
lobotomy
(luh-BOT-uh-mee, loh-BOT-uh-mee) A surgical incision into one or more of the nerve masses in the front of the brain. A lobotomy may be performed for the relief of certain mental disorders, although it has been largely abandoned in favor of less radical treatments.
‡ Because people who have had a lobotomy often become quite passive after the operation, the term is often used to refer to someone who shows a lack of response or reaction: “She was so tired she just sat there as if she had been lobotomized.”
