mandible
[man-duh-buh l]
noun
the bone of the lower jaw.
(in birds)
- the lower part of the bill.
- mandibles,the upper and lower parts of the bill.
(in arthropods) one of the first pair of mouthpart appendages, typically a jawlike biting organ, but styliform or setiform in piercing and sucking species.
RELATED WORDS
mouth, bone, snout, orifice, muzzle, jowl, maxilla, proboscis, projection, nozzle, bill, prow, nib, neb, pecker, cheek, dewlap, point, jaw
Nearby words
- mandelstam, osip emilyevich,
- mandeville,
- mandeville, bernard,
- mandeville, sir john,
- mandi,
- mandibular,
- mandibular arch,
- mandibular cartilage,
- mandibular dentition,
- mandibular disease
Origin of mandible
1375–1425; late Middle English < Late Latin mandibula jaw, equivalent to mandi- (combining form of Latin mandere to chew) + -bula noun suffix of means
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for mandible
mandible
noun
Word Origin for mandible
C16: via Old French from Late Latin mandibula jaw, from mandere to chew
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
mandible
late 14c., "jaw, jawbone," from Middle French mandible and directly from Late Latin mandibula "jaw," from Latin mandere "to chew," from PIE root *mendh- "to chew" (cf. Greek mastax "the mouth, that with which one chews; morsel, that which is chewed," masasthai "to chew," mastikhan "to gnash the teeth"). Of insect mouth parts from 1826.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mandible
[măn′də-bəl]
n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
mandible
[măn′də-bəl]
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.