Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A band or bandlike structure that holds an organ or a part in place.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In entomology: An arrangement of hooks, or of hooks and bristles, whereby the fore and hind wings of insects are interlocked when in flight.
  • noun In botany: A viscid gland belonging to the stigma of orchids and asclepiads. and holding the pollen-masses fast.
  • noun The persistent and indurated hook-like funiculus of the seeds in most Acanthaceæ. A. Gray.
  • noun In anatomy, a restraining band; a bridle or frenum: applied to such fibrous structures as those which bind down the tendons of muscles; also to the bridle of the ileocæcal valve.
  • noun In entomology, specifically, a small scale or plate which in some insects checks undue protrusion of the sting.
  • noun In surgery, an instrument formerly used in operations for hernia, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A connecting band; a frænum.
  • noun One of the annular ligaments which hold the tendons close to the bones at the larger joints, as at the wrist and ankle.
  • noun (Zoöl) One of the retractor muscles of the proboscis of certain worms.
  • noun (Bot.) A small gland or process to which bodies are attached.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy A connecting band.
  • noun anatomy One of the annular ligaments which hold the tendons close to the bones at the larger joints, as at the wrist and ankle.
  • noun zoology One of the retractor muscles of the proboscis of certain worms.
  • noun zoology A loop on the underside of the forewing of some moths.
  • noun botany A small gland or process to which bodies are attached; as, the glandular retinacula to which the pollinia of orchids are attached, or the hooks which support the seeds in many acanthaceous plants.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin retināculum, band, tether : retinēre, to restrain; see retain + -culum, suff. denoting instruments.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word retinaculum.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.