Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The shaft of a long bone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, an abnormal elongation of the axis of a flower or of an inflorescence; a form of prolification.
  • noun In anatomy, the continuity of a bone between its two ends; the shaft of a long bone, as distinguished from its epiphyses or apophyses.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) An abnormal prolongation of the axis of inflorescence.
  • noun (Anat.) The shaft, or main part, of a bone, which is first ossified.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy The central shaft of any long bone

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the main (mid) section of a long bone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek diaphusis, spinous process of the tibia, from diaphuesthai, to grow between : dia-, dia- + phuesthai, to grow, middle voice of phuein; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

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