Adjacent Words

Acetabulum definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ACETAB'ULUM, n. [L. from acetum, vinegar. See Acid.] Among the Romans a vinegar cruse or like vessel, and a measure of about one eighth of a pint.
1. In anatomy, the cavity of a bone for receiving the protuberant end of another bone, and therefore forming the articulation called enarthrosis. It is used especially for the cavity of the os innominatum, which receives the head of the thigh bone.
2. In botany, the trivial name of a species of peziza, the cup peziza; so called from its resemblance to a cup.
3. A glandular substance found in the placenta of some animals.
4. It is sometimes used in the sense of Cotyledon.
5. A species of lichen.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the cup-shaped hollow in the hipbone into which the head of the femur fits to form a ball-and-socket joint [syn: acetabulum, cotyloid cavity]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -lums or acetabula) Etymology: Latin, literally, vinegar cup, from acetum vinegar Date: 1661 1. a ventral sucker of a trematode 2. the cup-shaped socket in the hipbone • acetabular adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. acetabula) Zool. 1 the socket for the head of the thigh-bone, or of the leg in insects. 2 a cup-shaped sucker of various organisms, including tapeworms and cuttlefish. Etymology: ME f. L, = vinegar cup f. acetum vinegar + -abulum dimin. of -abrum holder

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Acetabulum Ac`e*tab"u*lum, n. [L., a little saucer for vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour.] 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc. 2. (Anat.) (a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh bone. (b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body. (c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals. (d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches. (e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals.