Definitions

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

  • adjective Shaped like a sword.
  • adjective Of or relating to the xiphoid process.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Shaped like or resembling a sword; ensiform.
  • The telson of a crustacean, as the king-crab. See cut under horseshoe-crab.
  • noun The ensiform or xiphoid cartilage in man, or its representative in other animals. See xiphisternum, 1.

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

  • adjective Like a sword; ensiform.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the xiphoid process; xiphoidian.

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

  • adjective Shaped like a sword, ensiform.
  • adjective Of, or relating to the xiphisternum.
  • noun anatomy The xiphoid process.

Etymologies

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

[Greek xiphoeidēs : xiphos, sword + -oeidēs, -oid.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ξιφοειδής (xiphoeidēs).

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Examples

  • Feel just beneath the sternum and find a tiny bone called xiphoid process.

    Jumpstart Your Metabolism Pam Grout 1996

  • I'm guessing most people don't know where their xiphoid is and, fortunately, it doesn't come up much in conversation.

    Dr. Jon LaPook: Body Language: Knowing Your Parts 2009

  • The lump turned out to be a normal part of his sternum (breastbone), a small piece of cartilage called the xiphoid.

    Dr. Jon LaPook: Body Language: Knowing Your Parts 2009

  • The lump turned out to be a normal part of his sternum (breastbone), a small piece of cartilage called the xiphoid.

    Dr. Jon LaPook: Body Language: Knowing Your Parts 2009

  • The lump turned out to be a normal part of his sternum (breastbone), a small piece of cartilage called the xiphoid.

    Dr. Jon LaPook: Body Language: Knowing Your Parts 2009

  • Another diagonal slash ran from the left shoulder and met the first slash at the xiphoid.

    Bloodstream Tess Gerritsen 1998

  • One slash ran from the right shoulder, diagonally through the breast, to the xiphoid process.

    Bloodstream Tess Gerritsen 1998

  • Another diagonal slash ran from the left shoulder and met the first slash at the xiphoid.

    Bloodstream Tess Gerritsen 1998

  • One slash ran from the right shoulder, diagonally through the breast, to the xiphoid process.

    Bloodstream Tess Gerritsen 1998

  • Using the bony protrusion of the xiphoid process as her landmark, she pierced the skin and angled the needle tip straight toward the heart.

    Life Support Tess Gerritsen 1997

Comments

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  • Sword-shaped.

    June 5, 2007

  • As in xiphoid process.

    October 21, 2007