Definitions

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

  • adjective Of, relating to, or resembling a navel or an umbilical cord.
  • adjective Located near the central area of the abdomen.
  • noun An umbilical cord.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the umbilicus; umbilic; umphalic.
  • Formed or placed like a navel; navel-shaped; central.
  • Connected through the female line of descent.
  • In botany, same as funicle, 4.

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

  • adjective (Anat.) Of or pertaining to an umbilicus, or umbilical cord; umbilic.
  • adjective rare Pertaining to the center; central.
  • adjective (Anat.), (Bot.) The little stem by which the seeds are attached to the placenta; -- called also funicular cord.
  • adjective (Med.) hernia of the bowels at the umbilicus.
  • adjective (Geom.) an umbilicus. See Umbilicus, 5.
  • adjective (Anat.) the middle region of the abdomen, bounded above by the epigastric region, below by the hypogastric region, and on the sides by the lumbar regions.
  • adjective (Anat.) a saccular appendage of the developing embryo, containing the nutritive and unsegmented part of the ovum; the yolk sac. See Illust. in Appendix.

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

  • adjective Of, or relating to, the navel (umbilicus) or the umbilical cord.
  • noun astronautics A cord connecting an astronaut to a spacecraft or the like.

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

  • adjective relating to or resembling the umbilicus
  • noun membranous duct connecting the fetus with the placenta

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin umbilicus ("navel").

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Examples

  • _ -- In the treatment of umbilical hernia it should be remembered that congenital hernias are often removed with age, but probably congenital _umbilical hernias_ less frequently than others.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877

  • Until the umbilical is cut between growth and the land use agencies growth funds, these agencies will continue to work to hide the impacts of growth from the taxpayers while approving anything that comes before them and while our roads and infrastructure are increasingly congested.

    Sound Politics: Eh, the P-I Has a Point 2006

  • A lot of -- connecting some power, some what are called umbilical cords, basically protecting the solar arrays from the really intense heat and cold that's going on up there.

    CNN Transcript Sep 12, 2006 2006

  • The other side is attached to a structure called the umbilical cord, which connects the placenta to the baby (see Figure 4.4).

    Chapter 6 1995

  • This cord is a part of what is called the umbilical cord, and it is this that joins the embryo to the mother.

    The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction Also Sexual Hygiene with Special Reference to the Male Winfield Scott Hall

  • Rupture at the navel is called umbilical hernia; that in the groin either inguinal or femoral, according to slight differences in site.

    The Home Medical Library, Volume II (of VI) Kenelm Winslow

  • Between the fore-gut and the hind-gut there exists for a time a wide opening into the yolk-sac, but the latter is gradually reduced to a small pear-shaped sac (sometimes termed the umbilical vesicle), and the channel of communication is at the same time narrowed and elongated to form a tube called the vitelline duct.

    I. Embryology. 9. Separation of the Embryo 1918

  • Having passed through the umbilical opening, the two arteries, now termed umbilical, enter the umbilical cord, where they are coiled around the umbilical vein, and ultimately ramify in the placenta.

    VI. The Arteries. 5b. The Common Iliac Arteries 1918

  • The growing fetus is connected with this vascular organ by means of a sort of cable, called the umbilical cord.

    Plain facts for old and young : embracing the natural history and hygiene of organic life. 1877

  • The pedicle of the allantois, which connects the embryo with the placenta and conducts the strong umbilical vessels from the former to the latter, is covered by the amnion, and, with this amniotic sheath and the pedicle of the yelk-sac, forms what is called the umbilical cord (Figure 1.196 al).

    The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

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