SPHENOID • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Sphenoid

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noun

Sphenoid n.

(Crystallog.) A wedge-shaped crystal bounded by four equal isosceles triangles. It is the hemihedral form of a square pyramid.

(Anat.) The sphenoid bone.

adjective

Sphenoid adj.

Wedge-shaped; as, a sphenoid crystal.

(Anat.) Of or pertaining to the sphenoid bone.

Sphenoid bone (Anat.), an irregularly shaped bone in front of the occipital in the base of the skull of the higher vertebrates. It is composed of several fetal bones which become united the adult. See Alisphenoid, Basisphenoid, Orbitosphenoid, Presphenoid.

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Etymology of 'Sphenoid'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sphenoid" Quotes from Famous Books

... the same manner as at present. Thus, he notices the quadrilateral shape of the parietal bones; he distinguishes the squamous, the styloid, the mastoid and the petrous portions of the temporal bones; and he remarks the peculiar situation and shape of the sphenoid bone. Of the ethmoid, which he omits at first, he afterwards speaks more at large in another treatise. The malar he notices under the name of zygomatic bone; and he describes at length the upper maxillary and nasal bones, and the connexion of the former ...

— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia