Definitions

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

  • noun The innermost of the three small bones of the middle ear, shaped somewhat like a stirrup.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bandage for the foot forming figure-of-eight turns around the ankle.
  • noun In zoology and anatomy, the inmost one of the three auditory ossicles of man and other mammals, situated in the tympanum, or middle ear.

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

  • noun (Anat.) The innermost of the ossicles of the ear; the stirrup, or stirrup bone; -- so called from its form. See Illust. of ear.

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

  • noun anatomy A small stirrup-shaped bone of the middle ear.

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

  • noun the stirrup-shaped ossicle that transmits sound from the incus to the cochlea

Etymologies

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

[New Latin stapēs, stapēd-, from Medieval Latin, stirrup, perhaps alteration (influenced by Latin stāre, to stand, and pēs, ped-, foot) of staffa, stapha, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English stæpe, stepe, step.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin stapēs ("stirrup").

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Examples

  • Now, if you can see where the pointer is pointing here on this upper right diagram, this long structure here with a big hole in the middle is called the stapes, and this is an ear bone that connects up to the eardrum in the inner ear, this little funny snail shaped thing, this bone, the stapes, has been in animals ever since they came out on land.

    What a difference a day makes. - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • The incus moves with the malleus and passes on the vibrations to the third bone, which is shaped like a tiny stirrup (with an opening not much larger than the eye of a needle) and therefore called the stapes (sta/peez; "stirrup" L).

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • THE INTERNAL EAR On the other side of the oval window covered by the stapes is the vestibule referred to on page 248.

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • The preservation of the skull is so precise that even the middle-ear bone, known as the stapes, remains perfectly intact and in its correct position, a very rare discovery in fossils.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories PhysOrg Team 2010

  • That’s just so you can see where the stapes is the comparable structures.

    What a difference a day makes. - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • The hearing loss is correctable by surgery in which the stapes bone is replaced by prosthesis.

    John W. House, M.D.: Too Many Tests! M.D. John W. House 2011

  • Our radiologist located the otosclerosis adjacent to the stapes.

    John W. House, M.D.: Too Many Tests! M.D. John W. House 2011

  • The obvious diagnosis is otoslcerosis which is a condition caused by abnormal bone growth in the middle ear around the stapes bone 3rd ear bone in the middle ear.

    John W. House, M.D.: Too Many Tests! M.D. John W. House 2011

  • At one point, the lady at the desk next to me goes into a drawer for stapes or something and bangs my butt, ripping out my earphone and effectively disconnecting me from the show.

    Coyote Blog » 2010 » February 2010

  • At one point, the lady at the desk next to me goes into a drawer for stapes or something and bangs my butt, ripping out my earphone and effectively disconnecting me from the show.

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » So This is How it Works… 2010

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