meatus

American  

[mee-ey-tuhs] / miˈeɪ təs /

noun

Anatomy.

plural

meatuses, meatus

1. an opening or foramen, especially in a bone or bony structure, as the opening of the ear or nose.

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meatus British  

/ mɪˈeɪtəs /

noun

1. anatomy a natural opening or channel, such as the canal leading from the outer ear to the eardrum

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Other Word Forms

• meatal adjective

Etymology

Origin of meatus

1655–65; < Latin meātus course, channel, equivalent to meā ( re ) to go, extend, have a course + -tus suffix of v. action

Example Sentences

On rare occasions, a false meatus can be located just above the normal one.

From Salon

Transmission in External Ear.—The external ear consists of the pinna, or auricle, and the external auditory meatus, or canal, at the bottom of which we find the membrana tympani, or drum head.

From Project Gutenberg

Many were troubled with a tinnitus aurium, or singing in the ears; and numbers suffered from violent earaches or pains in the meatus auditorius, which in some turned to an abscess.

From Project Gutenberg

Stitching pain at lobe of left ear and deep in and above external auditory meatus.

From Project Gutenberg

Try the experiment—stop the meatus auditorius with beeswax, and try it, for half a dozen Sabbaths, even with the knowledge, that you can remove the impediment at will, which I cannot!

From Project Gutenberg