Definitions

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

  • noun A small sac.
  • noun The smaller of two membranous sacs in the vestibule of the inner ear.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sac or cyst; especially, a little sac; a cell; a sacculus. Specifically
  • noun In anatomy, the smaller of two sacs in the vestibule of the membranous labyrinth of the ear, situated in the fovea hemispherica, in front of the utricle, connected with the membranous canal of the cochlea by the canalis reuniens, and prolonged in the aquæductus vestibuli to a pyriform dilatation, the saccus endolymphaticus.
  • noun Synonyms See sac.

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

  • noun A little sac; specifically, the sacculus of the ear.

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

  • noun anatomy The smallest chamber of the membranous labyrinth of the ear.

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

  • noun a small sac or pouch (especially the smaller chamber of the membranous labyrinth)

Etymologies

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

[Latin sacculus, diminutive of saccus, bag; see sack.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin sacculus ("small bag"), diminutive of saccus ("bag, sack").

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Examples

  • The tube that in land vertebrates developed from the saccule is the cochlea (kok'lee-uh; "snail-shell" L), which is a spiral structure that does indeed have a close resemblance to a snail shell, except that its width does not narrow as it approaches its central apex, but remains constant (see illustration, p. 253).

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • —The saccule is the smaller of the two vestibular sacs; it is globular in form, and lies in the recessus sphæricus near the opening of the scala vestibuli of the cochlea.

    X. The Organs of the Senses and the Common Integument. 1d. 4. The Internal Ear or Labyrinth 1918

  • The saccule is a bed of sensory cells situated in the inner ear.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • The saccule is a bed of sensory cells situated in the inner ear.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • The saccule is a bed of sensory cells situated in the inner ear.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • The saccule is a bed of sensory cells situated in the inner ear.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • (The structure is similar to the saccule and its outgrowths.)

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • Lying above and forward are the utricle and the structures developed from it, and lying below and behind are the saccule and the structures developed from it.

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • In consequence of this an apparently new apex has been formed by the growing downward of the right saccule, and the original apex, with the appendix attached, is pushed over to the left toward the ileocolic junction.

    XI. Splanchnology. 2h. The Large Intestine 1918

  • In the second type, the conical cecum has become quadrate by the growing out of a saccule on either side of the anterior longitudinal band.

    XI. Splanchnology. 2h. The Large Intestine 1918

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