ostium
Americannoun
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Anatomy, Zoology. a small opening or orifice, as at the end of the oviduct.
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Zoology. one of the tiny holes in the body of a sponge.
noun
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any of the pores in sponges through which water enters the body
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any of the openings in the heart of an arthropod through which blood enters
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any similar opening
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ostium
First recorded in 1655–65, ostium is from the Latin word ōstium entrance, river mouth
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 nasal appearances just noted are present, and if the sphenoidal sinus can be washed out and its ostium temporarily plugged, and pus rapidly reappears, its origin from these cells is probable.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
The removal of the middle turbinated bone permits of inspection of the ostium sphenoidale by anterior rhinoscopy, and pus may be seen escaping from the orifice.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
This has nothing to do with the foramen ovale, which occurs as an independent perforation higher up, and at first is known as the ostium secundum.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various
On the way from the second antechamber, called the ostium, to the atrium itself, Vinicius said,—"Hast noticed that thee doorkeepers are without chains?"
From Quo Vadis: a narrative of the time of Nero by Curtin, Jeremiah
When the inflammation is adjacent to the ostium it leads to the matting together of the tubal fimbriae and glues them to an adjacent organ.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
Other scientists had observed sponges sneezing by pushing water through their ostia before, but no one had confirmed the behavior was a mode of self-cleaning until now.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 10, 2022
Those “little mouths” are called ostia, and the openings where water flows out are oscula.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
The sponge coats unwanted detritus and waste with mucus and sends the coated particles out through small pores in its body called ostia.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 10, 2022
Pores within the body, called ostia, allow water to enter the spongocoel.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The heart is of the usual Arthropodous type, lying in a more or less well-defined pericardial blood-sinus, with which it communicates by valvular openings or ostia.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" 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.
