dentary

American  

[den-tuh-ree] / ˈdɛn tə ri /

noun

Zoology.

dentaries plural

1. one of a pair of membrane bones that in lower vertebrates form the distal part of the lower jaws and in mammals comprise the mandible.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• dentaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dentary

1820–30; < Latin dentārius of the teeth, equivalent to dent- (stem of dēns ) tooth + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

In mammals, the dentary bone joins the skull at the squamosal bone, while in other vertebrates, the quadrate bone of the jaw joins with the articular bone of the skull.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

The lower jaw of mammals consists of only one bone, the dentary.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

The edge of the dentary rises above the bases of the teeth medially, thereby producing a small depression at the junction of each base with the dentary bone.

From Two New Pelycosaurs from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma by Fox, Richard C.

Near the common suture of the dentary and the splenial is the large inferior alveolar foramen; completely within the splenial and ventral to the inferior alveolar foramen is the anterior mylohyoid foramen.

From A Revision of Snakes of the Genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America) by Wellman, John

The fragment is a piece from the posterior portion of the dentary, since the decrease in height from the first tooth to the fourth is pronounced.

From Two New Pelycosaurs from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma by Fox, Richard C.