ostium
Americannoun
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ostia
plural
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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:
When it is established the septum primum grows down and meets the endocardial cushions, and so the ostium primum is obliterated.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various
The porch of the ostium was supported by four columns delicately fluted and painted, the lower half in dull crimson, the upper in ochre.
From The Lion's Brood by Duffield Osborne
A probe is then passed into the ostium, and the anterior wall of the sinus is removed with a curette or rongeur forceps.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles
Here in the door-way, or ostium, we stop to note the "Salve!"
From Historic Boys Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times by Elbridge Streeter Brooks
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 Jeremiah Curtin
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
They would come out of the sponge’s ostia, move across the organism’s surface and aggregate into clumps that could be released with a sneeze, and then quickly gobbled up by other ocean critters.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
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
In some sponges, ostia are formed by porocytes, single tube-shaped cells that act as valves to regulate the flow of water into the spongocoel.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The morrow will find her a materfamilias, sitting among her maids in that atrium, or in the more private apartments behind it: Claudite ostia, virgines Lusimus satis.
From Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero by W. Warde Fowler
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