Definitions

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

  • noun The dense fibrous membrane covering the surface of bones except at the joints and serving as an attachment for muscles and tendons.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The enveloping membrane of bones; a dense fibrous membrane firmly investing the surface of bones, except where they are covered by cartilage.

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

  • noun (Anat.) The membrane of fibrous connective tissue which closely invests all bones except at the articular surfaces.

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

  • noun A membrane surrounding a bone.

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

  • noun a dense fibrous membrane covering the surface of bones (except at their extremities) and serving as an attachment for tendons and muscles; contains nerves and blood vessels that nourish the enclosed bone

Etymologies

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

[New Latin, from Late Latin periosteon, from Greek, from periosteos, around the bone : peri-, peri- + osteon, bone; see ost- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek περί (peri, "about, around") + ὀστέον (osteon, "bone").

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