Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Shaped like a half-moon; crescent-shaped.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Resembling a half-moon in form; half-moon shaped; loosely, in anat., bot., and zoology, crescentic in shape; crescentiform; meniscoid; concavo-convex: noting several structures, without much regard for precision in the implied meaning.
- The lower concave border of the posterior layer of the sheath of the rectus muscle, lying about midway between the umbilicus and publis.
- Same as
rectovesical fold (which see, underrectovesical ). - The interclavicular notch.
- The suprascapular notch.
- Synonyms Semilunar, Sigmoid. In anatomy, formerly (as still sometimes) these words described the same crescentic figure, for the reason that a later form of the Greek letter signia,
Σ , was like a C. The two forms are distinguished in structures later named. Comparesigmoid (cavity of the ulna) with sigmoid (flexure of the rectum), under sigmoid, a. - noun The semilunar or lunar bone of the wrist. See
semilunare .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) The semilunar bone.
- adjective Shaped like a half moon.
- adjective (Anat.) a bone of the carpus; the lunar. See
Lunar , n. - adjective (Anat.) the valves at the beginning of the aorta and of the pulmonary artery which prevent the blood from flowing back into the ventricle.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Shaped like a half-moon;
crescent -shaped. - noun anatomy The
lunate bone , orsemilunar bone .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective resembling the new moon in shape
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word semilunar.
Examples
-
Oh no! but what dull ache is this in that obscurely sensitive region, somewhere below the heart, where the nervous centre called the semilunar ganglion lies unconscious of itself until a great grief or a mastering anxiety reaches it through all the non-conductors which isolate it from ordinary impressions?
Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
-
Oh no! but what dull ache is this in that obscurely sensitive region, somewhere below the heart, where the nervous centre called the semilunar ganglion lies unconscious of itself until a great grief or a mastering anxiety reaches it through all the non-conductors which isolate it from ordinary impressions?
Pages from an Old Volume of Life; a collection of essays, 1857-1881 Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
-
The memory effect occurred because of a rare type of brain cell called semilunar granule cells, described in 1893 by the father of neuroscience, Ramón y Cajal.
-
The aperture leading from the left ventricle to the aorta is guarded by three crescentric flaps -- called the "semilunar" valves of the aorta.
The Common Frog 1874
-
He wrote one whole paragraph on the topic, and here it is, in its entirety; it was presented briefly as part of a long list of human rudimentary structures, such as wisdom teeth, muscles of the ear, and the semilunar fold of the eye.
-
The celebrated Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente, a most skilful anatomist, and venerable old man, or, as the learned Riolan will have it, Jacobus Silvius, first gave representations of the valves in the veins, which consist of raised or loose portions of the inner membranes of these vessels, of extreme delicacy, and a sigmoid or semilunar shape.
-
There are, as everyone knows, three sigmoid or semilunar valves situated at the orifice of the pulmonary artery, which effectually prevent the blood sent into the vessel from returning into the cavity of the heart.
-
I noticed that the factor's allegation about her was correct-virgo intacta, semilunar hymen, unfrayed, so I used my smallest speculum.
Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973
-
The pupil is a fine black, and above each eye is a semilunar mark of the richest garnet.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 495, June 25, 1831 Various
-
The dead pain in the semilunar ganglion (which I must remind my reader is a kind of stupid, unreasoning brain, beneath the pit of the stomach, common to man and beast, which aches in the supreme moments of life, as when the dam loses her young ones, or the wild horse is lassoed) stopped short.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 62, December, 1862 Various
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.