Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to the lips or labia.
  • adjective Linguistics Articulated mainly by closing or partly closing the lips, as the sounds (b), (m), or (w).
  • noun Linguistics A labial consonant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In anatomy and zoology, pertaining to the lips or to a lip-like part; situated on or by a lip; having a lip-like character, as in shape, position, or office: as, a labial vessel or nerve; a labial fold or process.
  • In entomology, pertaining to the labium, or lower lip of an insect.
  • Formed by the lips, as a sound. See II., 1.
  • Giving forth tones produced by the impact of a stream of air upon a sharp edge or lip: applied to musical instruments such as the flute or the flue-pipes of an organ.
  • noun A letter or character representing an articulate sound which in speaking is accompanied by a proximate or complete closure of the lips.
  • noun In herpetology, one of a series of plates or scales which lie along the edge of the lips, especially in Ophidia, those of the upper lip being the superior labials, those of the lower lip the inferior labials.
  • noun In entomology, one of the labial palpi.

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

  • noun (Phonetics) A letter or character representing an articulation or sound formed or uttered chiefly with the lips, as b, p, w.
  • noun (Mus.) An organ pipe that is furnished with lips; a flue pipe.
  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the scales which border the mouth of a fish or reptile.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
  • adjective (Mus.) Furnished with lips.
  • adjective Articulated, as a consonant, mainly by the lips, as b, p, m, w.
  • adjective Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, as � (f�d), ō (ōld), etc., and as eu and u in French, and ö, ü in German. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 11, 178.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the labium. See Labium.

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

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the lips or labia
  • adjective linguistics articulated by the lips, as the consonants b, m and w
  • adjective dentistry Of an incisor or canine, on the side facing the lips. See mesial.
  • noun linguistics a labial consonant
  • noun music an organ pipe having a lip that influences its sound

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

  • adjective of or relating to the lips of the mouth
  • adjective relating to or near the female labium
  • noun a consonant whose articulation involves movement of the lips

Etymologies

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

[Medieval Latin labiālis, from Latin labium, lip; see leb- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • "My son has two fathers, but Heather Poe's Mary Cheney's partner left labial lip is butcher than both of us put together."

    —Dan Savage, "Savage Love," Dec. 14, 2006

    August 5, 2008

  • That's the funniest fucking thing I've read in a long, long time. Possibly since I read it the first time, two years ago.

    Thanks for the Savage Love quotes, c_b, he's fantastic. My guilty pleasure is reading advice columnists, and Dan is one of my favorites (two others are the Salon columnists past and present, Garrison Keillor, aka Mr. Blue, and Cary Tennis, respectively).

    August 5, 2008