Crossword clues for mandible
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Mandible \Man"di*ble\, n. [L. mandibula, mandibulum, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Manger.]
(Anat.) The bone, or principal bone, of the lower jaw; the inferior maxilla; -- also applied to either the upper or the lower jaw in the beak of birds.
(Zo["o]l.) The anterior pair of mouth organs of insects, crustaceaus, and related animals, whether adapted for biting or not. See Illust. of Diptera.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
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" (cognates: 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.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The lower jaw, especially the lower jawbone. 2 One of a pair of mouthparts of an arthropod designed for holding food.
WordNet
n. the lower jawbone in vertebrates; it is hinged to open the mouth [syn: lower jaw, mandibula, mandibular bone, submaxilla, lower jawbone, jawbone, jowl]
Wikipedia
Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect’s mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages (the labrum is more anterior, but is a single fused structure). Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect’s food, or to defend against predators or rivals. Insect mandibles, which appear to be evolutionarily derived from legs, move in the horizontal plane unlike those of vertebrates, which appear to be derived from gill arches and move vertically.
thumb|250px|The mandibles of a Bull ant The mandible (from or mandĭbŭ-lum, a jaw) of an arthropod is a pair of mouthparts used either for biting or cutting and holding food. Mandibles are often simply referred to as jaws. Mandibles are present in the extant subphyla Myriapoda (millipedes and others), Crustacea and Hexapoda (insects etc.). These groups make up the clade Mandibulata, which is currently believed to be the sister group to the rest of arthropods, the clade Arachnomorpha ( Chelicerata and Trilobita).
Unlike the chelicerae of arachnids, mandibles can often be used to chew food. Mandibulates also differ by having antennae, and also by having three distinct body regions: head, thorax and abdomen. (The cephalothorax (or prosoma) of chelicerates is a fusion of head and thorax.)
The mandible, lower jaw or jawbone (from Latin mandibula, "jawbone") is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the face. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. In the midline on the anterior surface of the mandible is a faint ridge, an indication of the mandibular symphysis, where the bone is formed by the fusion of right and left processes during mandibular development. Like other symphyses in the body, this is a midline articulation where the bones are joined by fibrocartilage, but this articulation fuses together in early childhood.
The mandible is the lower jawbone of a vertebrate animal. Mandible may also refer to:
- Mandible (arthropod mouthpart), one of several mouthparts in arthropods
- Mandible (insect mouthpart), one of several mouthparts in insects
- Human mandible, the lower jawbone in humans
Usage examples of "mandible".
After killing his victim with the fangs of his mandibles, he was not satisfied, like most Spiders, to suck her head: he chewed her whole body, shoving it piecemeal into his mouth with his palpi, after which he threw up the masticated teguments and swept them away from his lodging.
Across its head was a row of pitless dark eyes above mandibles that clicked, while a thick green slime oozed from those threatening crunchers.
One might have said that at this distance she had already entered the vast bay, for a straight line drawn from Claw Cape to Cape Mandible would have rested on her starboard quarter.
She yanked frantically on her left leg and freed it slightly so that its sandled foot sank even closer to the advancing mandibles.
Correlated with this peculiarity the maxilla usually has the tomia sinuated, and is generally concave, and smaller and narrower than the mandible, which is also concave to receive the palatal knob.
The ants were swarming over the others, the dead and dying warriors, his fellows, his humans, being peeled open and apart by too many claws and pincers and mandibles snapping, plassteel shredding and no one getting a chance to fire enough to stop the peeling, shredding, swarming mandibles with globular eyes.
Cleavers, Clithers, Robin run in the grass, Burweed, Loveman, Gooseherriff, Mutton chops, Clite, Clide, Clitheren, and Goosebill, from the sharp, serrated leaves, like the rough-edged mandibles of a goose.
Herbert, enticed by the charms of the sky, thought of reproducing Union Bay, which was opposite to Prospect Heights, from Cape Mandible to Claw Cape.
Remo could react, the longhead opened like a scissors, and from the inner edges of each separate bulb, long pincerlike mandibles unfolded like biological straight razors.
They deposited him in the mud next to Longnose, then took up encircling positions and stood there clacking their huge mandibles.
Shuffling sideways, he plied his crushing mandibles to snip the next bar and the next.
A tremendous report was heard, but the piece had held good, and the colonists rushing to the windows, saw the shot graze the rocks of Mandible Cape, nearly five miles from Granite House, and disappear in Shark Gulf.
The slip-jaws maneuver was named for the scissorlike mandibles of the Kashyyyk slash-spider.
Track goes in through the sternocleidomastoid, through the base of the tongue and out through the left mandible.
Curved, swordlike mandibles cut through the back of her sweater and hoisted her onto her feet.