ampulla
Americannoun
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Anatomy. a dilated portion of a canal or duct, especially of the semicircular canals of the ear.
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Zoology, Botany. any flask-shaped structure.
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Ecclesiastical.
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a vessel for the wine and water used at the altar.
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a vessel for holding consecrated oil.
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a two-handled bottle having a somewhat globular shape, made of glass or earthenware, used by the ancient Romans for holding oil, wine, or perfumes.
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Ichthyology. ampulla of Lorenzini.
noun
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anatomy the dilated end part of certain ducts or canals, such as the end of a uterine tube
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Christianity
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a vessel for containing the wine and water used at the Eucharist
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a small flask for containing consecrated oil
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a Roman two-handled bottle for oil, wine, or perfume
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ampulla
< New Latin, Latin, equivalent to amphor ( a ) amphora + -la diminutive suffix, with normal vowel reduction and Greek ph rendered as p
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will pour holy oil from an eagle-shaped ampulla, or flask, then rub it on the king’s hands, chest and head.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2023
For the ceremony, the oil is kept in a solid gold flask called an ampulla, shaped like an eagle.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2018
What they saw surprised them: human-looking bones and what appeared to be a broken lead ampulla – a vessel to hold holy water.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 5, 2015
The box also contained a tiny lead vial, or ampulla, that had been twisted open and was in two pieces.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2015
And, above all, if he were king without a coronation, and without the oil from the sacred ampulla, what advantage was yet open to him by celerity above his competitor, the English boy?
From The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc by De Quincey, Thomas
Dehnhardt and his colleagues noticed the pits on the bottlenose dolphins looked a lot like ampullae on sharks, which are a line of small pores near their mouths that allow them to detect electric fields.
From Salon ● Dec. 1, 2023
And all species have something that sounds as if it came from a Harry Potter novel: ampullae of Lorenzini, receptors that respond to electrical fields, which all animals generate.
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
The captain, named Julia Hartl, turned on the engine to attract sharks, which have excellent hearing as well as electroreceptors on their noses, called ampullae of Lorenzini, that pick up engine impulses.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2015
The semicircular canals contain several ampullae, with some oriented horizontally and others oriented vertically.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Thus impulses may be generated in the nerves of the ampullae.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
