Definitions

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

  • adjective Composed of, containing, or resembling bone; bony.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Bony; made of bone; having the nature or structure of bone; ossified: as, osseous tissue. See bone and ossein.
  • Having a bony skeleton; ossean; teleost: as, an osseous fish. See teleost.
  • Full of bones; composed or largely consisting of bones; ossiferous: as, osseous breccia.
  • Hard as bone, or otherwise resembling bone; ossiform.

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

  • adjective Composed of bone; resembling bone; capable of forming bone; bony; ossific.

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

  • adjective Of, relating to, or made of bone; bony.

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

  • adjective composed of or containing bone

Etymologies

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

[From Latin osseus, from os, oss-, bone; see ost- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • As already remarked, the main point of difference, upon which scientific naturalists rely, is found in the horns; those of the deer being termed osseous, or bony, while these appendages in the antelopes are true horns -- that is, of the same material as the horns of oxen.

    Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found A Book of Zoology for Boys Mayne Reid 1850

  • An artists vague, origional interpretaion of the skeletal system, also known as osseous tissue.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2010

  • In the third class come tissues the cells of which have fused by their walls, but whose cell-cavities are not in continuity, such as osseous tissue and cartilage.

    Form and Function A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology

  • One wishes here, though, that the spongy, osseous kelp forest underneath was extended above the water line: a spongy, osseous rain forest within which fishes swarm.

    Fish Works 2008

  • While bone marrow is part of the osseous system, the bones do not constitute one organ, and marrow-like functions occur in the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes altogether encompassing the reticuloendothelial system.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Jeff Rowes Guest-Blogging This Week on the Bone Marrow Compensation Case 2009

  • One wishes here, though, that the spongy, osseous kelp forest underneath was extended above the water line: a spongy, osseous rain forest within which fishes swarm.

    Archive 2008-08-01 2008

  • There is an osseous process from the posterior part of all and each of the vertebra, whether greater or smaller; and upon these processes there are cartilaginous epiphyses, and from them arise nervous productions (ligaments?), akin to the external nerves

    On The Articulations 2007

  • The cranium was met with at a depth of a metre and a half [five feet nearly], hidden under an osseous breccia, composed of the remains of small animals, and containing one rhinoceros tusk, with several teeth of horses and of ruminants.

    Essays 2007

  • He was osseous, sandy-haired, blue-eyed, with a keen, formidable nose and a solid chin.

    The Titan 2004

  • He was a strange, tall, dark, osseous man who, owing to the brooding, melancholy character of his own disposition, had a checkered and a somewhat sad career behind him.

    The Titan 2004

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