Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One of eight bicuspid teeth located in pairs on each side of the upper and lower jaws behind the canines and in front of the molars.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Anterior in position, and prior in time, to a molar, as a tooth; situated in advance of molars; deciduous, as a molar; pertaining in any way to premolars: as, a premolar tooth; premolar dentition; the premolar part of a maxillary bone.
- noun A milk-molar; a molar of the deciduous dentition; a tooth which in the permanent dentition replaces a milk-molar.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Anat.) Situated in front of the molar teeth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
tooth situated in front of themolar teeth; especially a tooth inhumans with twocusps which is between thecanines and themolars (latin: singular dens premolaris, plural dentes premolares) syn.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a tooth having two cusps or points; located between the incisors and the molars
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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In the lower jaw the lowermost incisor is very large, and projects almost horizontally forwards, and it is followed by three small teeth now acknowledged to be premolars, with another large premolar, which is of the nature of a carnassial or cutting tooth acting on the one in the upper jaw.
Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Robert Armitage Sterndale 1870
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"There are three small upper premolars between the quasi-canine tooth and the large scissor-toothed premolar, which is much developed."
Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Robert Armitage Sterndale 1870
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However, G. blacki can be distinguished from the extant hominids by having relatively higher values for postcanine root length and surface area, both absolutely and relative to mandibular size (except for premolar root lengths of humans).
Archive 2009-02-01 2009
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Relatively little known is that the generic name for white-tailed and mule deers, Odocoileus, was originally coined for a fossil (a premolar found in a Pennsylvanian cave), and later transferred to the extant species when they and the tooth were found to belong to the same genus.
Archive 2006-03-01 Darren Naish 2006
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Measuring the third premolar, a fairly concise distinction between the species.
grouse Diary Entry grouse 2008
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But now I have a toothache (I think there's a cavity in the first or second lower left premolar) so I suddenly remember that dentists exist.
phluid61 Diary Entry phluid61 2007
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These dental casts taken from two women who live in a village near the site where the "hobbit" was found show that they share a common dental trait -- premolar teeth that have rotated 90 degrees from the normal position (see arrows in larger image).
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We might be getting one spacer for the 1st molar, but the dentist warned he might later need to have the premolar removed, as well.
Space Maintainers Dr. Dean Brandon 2006
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It gets better: the premolar next to it is showing a dark spot in the root, when I saw the xray.
Space Maintainers Dr. Dean Brandon 2006
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The excavations uncovered the remains of up to seven individuals, but only one skull with a receding chin, strangely shaped premolar teeth, and a brain size measured at 380 ccs -- less than a third the size of a modern human brain.
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