stapes
[stey-peez]
- the innermost, stirrup-shaped bone of a chain of three small bones in the middle ear of humans and other mammals, involved in the conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear.Also called stirrup.Compare incus(def 1), malleus.
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Origin of stapes
1660–70; < New Latin stapēs, Medieval Latin: stirrup, perhaps etymologizing alteration of Italian staffa stirrup (< Germanic) by association with Latin stāre to stand, and pēs, stem ped- foot
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for stapes
Historical Examples
The stapes forms a close connection with the hammer and the incus.
Form and FunctionE. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
The limbs of the stapes are narrow, weak, and abruptly curved.
North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus)Philip H. Krutzsch
Priodon has a lower type of stapes than Dasypus and Tatusia.
The Vertebrate SkeletonSidney H. Reynolds
Even then it may be anatomically impossible to see the stapes.
The base of the stapes communicates 723 pressures to the utricle.
stapes
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Word Origin
C17: via New Latin from Medieval Latin, perhaps a variant of staffa, stapeda stirrup, influenced in form by Latin stāre to stand + pēs a foot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for stapes
n.
"stirrup bone in the middle ear," 1660s, from Modern Latin (1560s), special use of Medieval Latin stapes "stirrup," probably an alteration of Late Latin stapia, related to stare "to stand" + pedem, accusative of pes "foot" (see foot). So called because the bone is shaped like a stirrup. This was an invented Medieval Latin word for "stirrup," for which there was no classical Latin word, as the ancients did not use stirrups.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
stapes
(stā′pēz)- The smallest of the three auditory ossicles, whose base fits into the oval window and whose head is articulated with the lenticular process of the long limb of the incus.stirrup
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
stapes
[stā′pēz]
- The roughly stirrup-shaped bone that is the innermost of the three small bones (ossicles) of the middle ear.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.