flatliner
nounEtymology From flatline + -er.
1
Fishing, Hobbies, Lifestyle An angler who uses a flatline.
2
Rare A patient with no heartbeat.
- […]unless my heart stops, okay? Nada — unless I'm a flatliner."1996, Bill Butterworth, Butterworth gets his life together, page 144:
- In spite of his dramatic highs and the canyon lows, Kurt was a flatliner—a patient with no heartbeat.1998, George Mckinney, Cross the Line:
1 more example
- Though occasionally a “flatliner” can be revived with a defib, it is most commonly used to change the uncoordinated contractions of the heart (fibrillation) into a normal sinus rhythm—that is, to defibrillate the heart.2011, Laurence Street, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Technology, page 125: