Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

sternummore about sternum

sternum


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Sternum  \Ster"num\,  n.;  pl  L.  {Sterna},  E.  {Sternums}.  [NL., 
  from  Gr  ?,  the  breast,  chest.] 
  1.  (Anat.)  A  plate  of  cartilage,  or  a  series  of  bony  or 
  cartilaginous  plates  or  segments,  in  the  median  line  of 
  the  pectoral  skeleton  of  most  vertebrates  above  fishes; 
  the  breastbone. 
 
  Note:  The  sternum  is  connected  with  the  ribs  or  the  pectorial 
  girdle,  or  with  both  In  man  it  is  a  flat  bone,  broad 
  anteriorly,  narrowed  behind,  and  connected  with  the 
  clavicles  and  the  cartilages  of  the  seven  anterior 
  pairs  of  ribs.  In  most  birds  it  has  a  high  median  keel 
  for  the  attachment  of  the  muscles  of  the  wings. 
 
  2.  (Zo["o]l.)  The  ventral  part  of  any  one  of  the  somites  of 
  an  arthropod. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  sternum 
  n  :  the  flat  bone  that  articulates  with  the  clavicles  and  the 
  first  seven  pairs  of  ribs  [syn:  {breastbone}] 




more about sternum