Crossword clues for fontanel
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fontanel \Fon"ta*nel`\, n. [F. fontanelle, prop., a little fountain, fr. fontaine fountain. See Fountain.]
(Med.) An issue or artificial ulcer for the discharge of humors from the body.[Obs.]
--Wiseman.-
(Anat.) One of the membranous intervals between the incompleted angles of the parietal and neighboring bones of a fetal or young skull; -- so called because it exhibits a rhythmical pulsation.
Note: In the human fetus there are six fontanels, of which the anterior, or bregmatic, situated at the junction of the coronal and sagittal sutures, is much the largest, and remains open a considerable time after birth.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of fontanelle English)
WordNet
n. any membranous gap between the bones of the cranium in an infant or fetus [syn: fontanelle, soft spot]
Usage examples of "fontanel".
A ropy mass of neurons, interlaced with augmentations of my jugular vein and my two carotid arteries, extended from beneath my orphaned medulla and stretched across four feet of empty space before disappearing into my reopened fontanel, the whole arrangement shielded from microbial contamination by a flexible plastic tube.
People said soft spot like it was a good thing, when what it really was was a vulnerability, like the fontanel of an infant, a place where grievous harm could occur.
There were sore spots, but as yet no softness to indicate that the cranial sutures that had closed his babyhood fontanels, firming his skull into a rigid box of limited volume, were relaxing and opening up.