Definition of "pledget" []

• A small flat absorbent pad used to medicate, drain, or protect a wound or sore. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "(Syrian incense), a fir — gum imported from Scio, is melted and allowed to cool in the form of a pledget."
• "In these cases (clearly perceiving that the symptoms were governed by the state of the arms) I applied on the inoculated pustules, and renewed the application three or four times within an hour, a pledget of lint, previously soaked in aqua lythargyri acetati"
• "I said as she turned up my upper lip and tucked a pledget of plastic under it."