Definitions

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

  • noun A small fluffy mass or tuft.
  • noun Anatomy Either of two small lobes on the lower posterior border of the cerebellum.
  • noun Astronomy Any of various cloudlike or filamentary masses of luminous gas appearing as bright patches on the surface of the sun often surrounding sunspots.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun in astronomy, a name given by Hale to cloudy wisps, bright or dark, with which the sun's surface appears to be covered when photographed with the spectroheliograph by the light of some special wave-length, as, for instance, through a line in the spectrum due to some special element such as calcium, hydrogen, or iron.
  • noun A small flock of wool or something resembling it; a small tuft; a shred; a flake.
  • noun Specifically In anatomy, a tuft-like lobe of the cerebellar hemisphere on either side behind and below the middle peduncle of the cerebellum. The nodulus connects the two flocculi. Also called sub-peduncular lobe and pneumogastric lobule.
  • noun In entomology, a small bunch of fine curved hairs; particularly, a bunch of stiff hairs found on the posterior coxæ of certain hymenopterous insects.
  • noun In chem. and physics, a small aggregation of particles formed by the agitation of a liquid containing them.

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

  • noun (Anat.) A small lobe in the under surface of the cerebellum, near the middle peduncle; the subpeduncular lobe.

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

  • noun A small fluffy tuft
  • noun anatomy Either of two small lobes on the posterior border of the cerebellum
  • noun astronomy A marking on the surface of the sun associated with a solar prominence

Etymologies

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

[New Latin, diminutive of Latin floccus, tuft of wool.]

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Examples

  • The flocculus is a prominent, irregular lobule, situated in front of the biventral lobule, between it and the middle cerebellar peduncle.

    IX. Neurology. 4a. The Hind-brain or Rhombencephalon 1918

  • This part of the cerebellum, known as the flocculus, is responsible for integrating visual and balance signals during flight, allowing birds to judge the position of other objects in midflight.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • This part of the cerebellum, known as the flocculus, is responsible for integrating visual and balance signals during flight, allowing birds to judge the position of other objects in midflight.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • About two centuries later, the Late Latin term “flocculus” found its way into English and was also used with the meaning “a small loosely aggregated mass.”

    flocculate | clusterflock 2009

  • About two centuries later, the Late Latin term “flocculus” found its way into English and was also used with the meaning “a small loosely aggregated mass.”

    flocculate | clusterflock 2009

  • On my way to trying to find that 'F' word, I learned that "fuliginous" means colored by soot, and the third definition of "flocculus" is a cloudlike mass of gas appearing on the sun's surface.

    NBC Treats Word Games Like the Olympic Games 2007

  • The flocculus and nodule are developed from the rhombic lip, and are therefore recognizable as separate portions before any of the other cerebellar lobules.

    IX. Neurology. 2. Development of the Nervous System 1918

  • From the medulla oblongata, the glossopharyngeal nerve passes lateralward across the flocculus, and leaves the skull through the central part of the jugular foramen, in a separate sheath of the dura mater, lateral to and in front of the vagus and accessory nerves (Fig. 792).

    IX. Neurology. 5i. The Glossopharyngeal Nerve 1918

  • The nerve passes along the internal auditory meatus with the vestibular nerve and across the subarachnoid space, just above the flocculus, almost directly medialward toward the inferior peduncle to terminate in the cochlear nucleus.

    IX. Neurology. 5h. The Acoustic Nerve 1918

  • Within a few days this lip becomes applied to, and unites with, the outer surface of the main part of the alar lamina, and so covers in the tractus solitarius and also the spinal root of the trigeminal nerve; the nodulus and flocculus of the cerebellum are developed from the rhombic lip.

    IX. Neurology. 2. Development of the Nervous System 1918

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