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.
- 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 . - 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the
lips orlabia - adjective linguistics
articulated by the lips, as the consonantsb ,m andw - adjective dentistry Of an
incisor orcanine , on the side facing the lips. Seemesial . - 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
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Examples
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Mexico. 11 The language of Nootka is by no means harsh or disagreeable; for it abounds, upon the whole, rather with what may be called labial and dental, than with guttural sounds.
Narrative of the Voyages Round The World, Performed by Captain James Cook 2003
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Mexico. 11 The language of Nootka is by no means harsh or disagreeable; for it abounds, upon the whole, rather with what may be called labial and dental, than with guttural sounds.
Narrative of the Voyages Round The World, Performed by Captain James Cook 2003
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El is the article; but when it precedes a word beginning with a letter called a labial, it takes the sound of that letter.
An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa Abd Salam Shabeeny
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Of the two cusps the labial is the larger and more prominent.
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These finger-like appendages are called the labial palpi and maxillary palpi.
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"Their language is by no means harsh or disagreeable, farther than proceeds from their using the _k_ and _h_ with more force, or pronouncing them with less softness than we do; and, upon the whole, it abounds rather with what we may call labial and dental, than with guttural sounds.
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 Robert Kerr 1784
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The Silver Lizzes of June – July 1963, meanwhile, are even more strategically labial, the screened lipstick applying a slight but distinct upturn to the corners of the mouth that was not present in the original publicity photograph.
Archive 2009-01-01 2009
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I have a couple of cheeks just dying for your labial lavage, doc.
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You think about your thighs, your outfits, your naso-labial folds.
Why You're Not Married Tracy McMillan 2011
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It's more ... labial than the Monet painting (unless Monet's cathedral was supposed to really be a vagina, in which case, paging Dr. Freud) but what can you do?
Una LaMarche: Project Runway Episode 12 Recap: Let's Getty It Over With Una LaMarche 2010
chained_bear commented on the word labial
"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
john commented on the word labial
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