fenestra

American  

[fi-nes-truh] / fɪˈnɛs trə /

noun

• fenestrae,
  plural
• fenestras
  plural

1. Anatomy, Zoology. a small opening or perforation, as in a bone, especially between the middle and inner ear.

2. Entomology. a transparent spot in an otherwise opaque surface, as in the wings of certain butterflies and moths.

3. Architecture. a windowlike opening.

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fenestra British  

/ fɪˈnɛstrə /

noun

1. biology a small opening in or between bones, esp one of the openings between the middle and inner ears

2. zoology a transparent marking or spot, as on the wings of moths

3. architect a window or window-like opening in the outside wall of a building

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fenestral
  adjective
• unfenestral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fenestrae
  plural
• fenestras
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fenestra

1820–30; < New Latin, special use of Latin fenestra window, hole (in a wall)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fenestra fenestrae fenestras

In most meat-eating dinosaurs, a ridge of bone provides a roof over an opening in the skull in front of the eye sockets known as the antorbital fenestra.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 15, 2020

Only one of these differences, the elongation of the posterodorsal squamosal fenestra, was the same as a difference noted above between topotypes of uligocola and modestus.

From Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus pennsylvanicus, in Wyoming, Colorado, and Adjacent Areas by Sydney Anderson

The medial border of the orbital fenestra is missing, but apparently consisted of the pterygoid for at least the posterior half.

From A New Order of Fishlike Amphibia From the Pennsylvanian of Kansas by Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth) Eaton

Hurst’s view is that with each movement of the stapes a wave is generated which travels up the scala vestibuli, through the helicotrema into the scala tympani and down the latter to the fenestra rotunda.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various

Neckam, writing in that century, refers to the usefulness of the Vine when trained against the wall-front: "Pampinus latitudine suâ excipit æris insultus, cum res ita desiderat, et fenestra clementiam caloris solaris admittat."

From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

Temporal fenestrae are post-orbital openings in the skull that allow muscles to expand and lengthen.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Furthermore, their supratemporal fenestrae are proportionally small and become smaller during ontogeny.

From Scientific American ● May 24, 2012

Torosaurus’s is larger and flatter, with two large circular holes called fenestrae on either side of it.

From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2012

If modern views of selection are applied to the problem of explaining the appearance of temporal fenestrae, the possibility cannot be ignored that: 1.

From The Adductor Muscles of the Jaw In Some Primitive Reptiles by Richard C. Fox

Five fenestrae below each mouth; numerous branching bands on the back of the cell.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by John MacGillivray

The usual explanation, which makes insertas an epithet transferred by a sort of hypallage from Luna to fenestras, is extremely violent, and makes the word little more than a repetition of se fundebat.

From The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil