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lip

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Dictionary: lip   (lĭp) pronunciation
 
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n.
  1. Anatomy. Either of two fleshy folds that surround the opening of the mouth.
  2. A structure or part that encircles or bounds an orifice, as:
    1. Anatomy. A labium.
    2. The margin of flesh around a wound.
    3. Either of the margins of the aperture of a gastropod shell.
    4. A rim, as of a vessel, bell, or crater.
  3. Botany. One of the two divisions of a bilabiate corolla or calyx, as in the snapdragon, or the modified upper petal of an orchid flower.
  4. The tip of a pouring spout, as on a pitcher.
  5. Slang. Insolent talk.
tr.v., lipped, lip·ping, lips.
    1. To touch the lips to.
    2. To kiss.
  2. To utter.
  3. To lap or splash against.
  4. Sports. To hit a golf ball so that it touches the edge of (the hole) without dropping in.

[Middle English, from Old English lippa.]

lipless lip'less adj.
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Thesaurus: lip
 
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verb

    To flow against or along: bathe, lap, lave, wash. See dry/wet.

 
Antonyms: lip
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n

Definition: edge, brink
Antonyms: center, inside, interior, middle

n

Definition: insolence
Antonyms: kindness, politeness

 
Dental Dictionary: lip
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n

1. either the upper or lower fleshy structure surrounding the opening of the oral cavity. 2. any rimlike structure bordering a cavity or groove.

 
Architecture: lip
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1. A rounded overhanging edge or member.
2. See lip strike.

 
Veterinary Dictionary: lip
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Home > Library > Animal Life > Veterinary Dictionary

1. the upper or lower fleshy margin of the mouth.
2. any fleshy boundary; labium.

  • l. droop — an unnatural hanging of the lower lip, which is not used during prehension and mastication; there is an accompanying lack of sensitivity of the part. Unilateral droop is usually an indication of facial paralysis; bilateral droop occurs in many conditions of general paralysis, e.g. botulism.
  • l. fold dermatitis — see fold dermatitis.
  • l.–leg ulceration — a disease of sheep. See ulcerative dermatosis.
  • l. philtrum — the vertical median groove or fissure in the upper lip of some mammals.
  • l. twitch — see twitch.
  • l. ulcer — see eosinophilic ulcer.
 
Word Tutor: lip
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Spelling & Usage
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - Fleshy folds of tissue as those surrounding the mouth.

pronunciation That's a valiant flea that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. — William Shakespeare, Source: KING HENRY V, Act 3, Scene 7

 
Dream Symbol: Lips
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Dream Symbols

Lips in contemporary culture often represent sensuousness, sex, love, and romance. They are also associated with communication, as in the familiar expression "read my lips."

 
Wikipedia: Lip
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Lip
Female lips
Latin labia oris
Artery inferior labial, superior labial
Vein inferior labial, superior labial
Nerve frontal, infraorbital
For other uses, see Lip (disambiguation).

Lips are a visible body part at the mouth of humans and many animals. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake, as an erogenous organ used in kissing and other acts of intimacy, as a tactile sensory organ, and in the articulation of speech.  

Contents

Anatomical basics of the human lip

One differentiates between the Upper (Labia superfluos entafada) and lower lip (Labium inferius). The lower lip is usually somewhat larger. The border between the lips and the surrounding skin is referred to as the vermillion border, or simply the vermilion. The vertical groove on the upper lip is known as the philtrum.

The skin of the lip, with three to five cellular layers, is very thin compared to typical face skin, which has up to 16 layers. With light skin color, the lip skin contains fewer melanocytes (cells which produce melanin pigment , which give skin its color). Because of this, the blood vessels appear through the skin of the lips, which leads to their notable red coloring. With darker skin color this effect is less prominent, as in this case the skin of the lips contains more melanin and thus is visually thicker. The skin of the lip forms the border between the exterior skin of the face, and the interior mucous membrane of the inside of the mouth.

The lip skin is not hairy, and does not have sweat glands or sebaceous glands. Therefore it does not have the usual protection layer of sweat and body oils which keep the skin smooth, inhibit pathogens, and regulate warmth. For these reasons, the lips dry out faster and become chapped more easily.

Anatomy in detail

The skin of the lips is stratified squamous epithelium. The mucous membrane is represented by a large area in the sensory cortex, and is therefore highly sensitive. The Frenulum Labii Inferioris is the frenulum of the lower lip. The Frenulum Labii Superioris is the frenulum of the upper lip.

Sensory nerve supply

Blood supply

The facial artery is one of the six non-terminal branches of the external carotid artery. It supplies the lips by its superior and inferior labial branches, each of which bifurcate and anastomose with their companion artery from the other side.

Muscles acting on the lips

The muscles acting on the lips are considered part of the muscles of facial expression. All muscles of facial expression are derived from the mesoderm of the second pharyngeal arch, and are therefore supplied (motor supply) by the nerve of the second pharyngeal arch, the facial nerve (7th cranial nerve). The muscles of facial expression are all specialized members of the panniculus carnosus, which attach to the dermis and so wrinkle, or dimple the overlying skin. Functionally, the muscles of facial expression are arranged in groups around the orbits, nose and mouth.

The muscles acting on the lips:

Functions of the lips

Food intake

Because they have their own muscles and bordering muscles, the lips are easily movable. Lips are used for eating functions, like holding food or to get it in the mouth. In addition, lips serve to close the mouth airtight shut, to hold food and drink inside, and to keep out unwanted objects. Through making a narrow funnel with the lips, the suction of the mouth is increased. This suction is essential for babies to breast feed. Lips can also be used to suck in other contexts, such as sucking on a straw to drink liquids.

Erogenous zone

Because of their high number of nerve endings, the lips are an erogenous zone. The lips therefore play a crucial role in kissing and other acts of intimacy.

A woman's lips are also a visible expression of her fertility. In studies performed on the science of human attraction, psychologists have concluded that a woman's facial and sexual attractiveness is closely linked to the makeup of her hormones during puberty and development. Contrary to the effects of testosterone on a man's facial structure, the effects of a woman's oestrogen levels serve to maintain a relatively "childlike" and youthful facial structure during puberty and during final maturation. It has been shown that the more oestrogen a woman has, the larger her eyes and the fuller her lips. Surveys performed by sexual psychologists have also found that universally, men find a woman's full lips to be more sexually attractive than lips that are less so.[1] A woman's lips are therefore sexually attractive to males because they serve as a biological indicator of a woman's health and fertility. As such, a woman's lipstick (or collagen lip enhancement) takes advantage of this fact by "tricking" men into thinking that a woman has more oestrogen than she actually has, and thus that she is more fertile and attractive.[2]

Tactile organ

The lip has many nerve endings and reacts as part of the tactile (touch) senses. Lips are very sensitive to touch, warmth, and cold. It is therefore an important aid for exploring unknown objects for babies and toddlers.

Articulation

The lips serve for creating different sounds - mainly the labial, bilabial, and labiodental consonant sounds - and thus create an important part of the speech apparatus. The lips enable whistling and the performing of wind instruments such as the trumpet, clarinet, and flute.

Facial expressions

Main article: facial expression
This section requires expansion.

The lips visibly express emotions such as a smile or frown. Lips can also be made pouty when whining, or perky to be provocative.

Symbolic meaning

Lips are often viewed as a symbol for sensuality and sexuality. This has many origins; above all, the lips are a very sensitive erogenous and tactile organ. Furthermore, in many cultures of the world, a woman's mouth and lips are veiled because of their representative association with the vulva, and because of their role as a woman's secondary sexual organ [3].

As part of the mouth, the lips are also associated with the symbolism associated with the mouth as orifice by which food is taken in. The lips are also linked symbolically to neonatal psychology (see for example oral stage of the psychology according to Sigmund Freud).

Changes to the lip

  • One of the most frequent changes of the lips is a blue coloring due to cyanosis; the blood contains less oxygen, and thus has a dark red to blue color, which shows through the thin skin. Cyanosis is the reason why corpses always have blue lips. In cold weather cyanosis can appear, so especially in the winter, blue lips may not be an uncommon sight.
  • Lips can (temporarily) swell. The reasons for this are varied and can be from sexual stimulation, injuries and side effects of medications, or misalignment of teeth.
  • Cracks or splits in the angles of the lips could be the result of an inflammation of the lips, Angular cheilitis.

Diseases

As an organ of the body, the lip can be a focus of disease or show symptoms of a disease:

  • Lip herpes (technically Herpes labialis, a form of herpes simplex) is a viral infection which appears in the formation of painful blisters at the lip. It is also commonly known as a cold sore.
  • Carcinoma (a malignant cancer that arises from epithelial cells) at the lips, is caused predominantly by using tobacco and overexposure of sunlight. To a lesser extent, it could also come from lack of oral hygiene or poor fitting dentures. Alcohol appears to increase the carcinoma risk associated with tobacco use.

Additional images

The labial coronary arteries, etc.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Attractive women tend to have higher estrogen levels". http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=32924. Retrieved on 2007-12-12. 
  2. ^ "Why do men find big lips and little noses so sexy? I'll paint you a picture - Comment - Times Online". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1894256,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-12. 
  3. ^ Valsiner, Jaan (2000). Culture and Human Development. Sage Publications, Ltd. pp. 134–136. 

Further reading

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lips
Sister project Look up lip in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
v • d • e
General anatomy of head and neck - head
Face/
Occiput
Nose
Mouth/
oral cavity
Other
Fascia

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Lip
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - læbe, udbuet kant, rand, udbøjning, overkant, overlap, karm, næsvise bemærkninger
v. tr. - kysse, berøre med læberne, slikke, slå golfbold lige hen til randen af et hul

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    være på alles læber
  • bite one's lip    bide sig i læben
  • hang on his lips    hænge ved hans læber
  • lick one's lips    slikke sig om læberne
  • lip reading    mundaflæsning
  • lip service    hykle, øjentjeneri
  • lips are sealed    munden er lukket med syv segl
  • not pass someone's lips    ikke komme over ens læber
  • stiff upper lip    ikke fortrække en mine, bide smerten i sig, bide tænderne sammen

Nederlands (Dutch)
lip, schenkrand, brutale praatjes, mondstuk van blaasinstrument, rand van wond/holte etc., zacht met lippen raken, kussen, met golfbal tot rand van gat komen, lippen op mondstuk plaatsen, niet oprecht, labiaal (met de lippen uitgesproken)

Français (French)
n. - (Anat) lèvre, babine (d'un chien), bord (d'une tasse), bec (d'une carafe), (fig) insolence
v. tr. - toucher avec les lèvres, effleurer

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    être sur toutes les lèvres
  • bite one's lip    se mordre les lèvres
  • hang on someone's lips    être pendu aux lèvres de (qn)
  • lick one's lips    se lécher les babines
  • lip reading    lire sur les lèvres
  • lip service    être soi-disant pour (l'égalité, une cause)
  • lips are sealed    bouche cousue
  • not pass someone's lips    ne pas sortir de sa bouche
  • stiff upper lip    rester flegmatique

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lippe, Rand, Tülle, (Haupt)schneide, Frechheit
v. - mit den Lippen berühren

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    in aller Munde sein
  • bite one's lip    sich auf die Lippen beißen
  • hang on someone's lips    jdm gespannt zuhören
  • lick one's lips    sich die Lippen lecken
  • lip reading    Lippenlesen
  • lip service    Lippenbekenntnis
  • lips are sealed    Lippen sind versiegelt
  • not pass someone's lips    nicht über die Lippen kommen
  • stiff upper lip    unemotionales Verhalten der Engländer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - χείλι, χείλος (στόματος), (μτφ.) αναίδεια, αυθάδεια
v. - αγγίζω με τα χείλη, αγγίζω ελαφρά

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    βρίσκομαι στα χείλη όλων
  • bite one's lip    δαγκώνω τα χείλια μου
  • hang on his lips    κρέμομαι από τα χείλη του
  • lick one's lips    γλείφω τα χείλια μου, γλείφομαι
  • lip reading    ανάγνωση χειλιών
  • lip service    υποκριτική αφοσίωση
  • lips are sealed    το στόμα μου είναι σφραγισμένο
  • not pass someone's lips    δεν περνώ από τα χείλη κάποιου, δεν λέγομαι
  • stiff upper lip    στωικότητα

Italiano (Italian)
labbro

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    essere sulla bocca di tutti
  • bite one's lip    mordersi le labbra
  • hang on his lips    pendere dalle labbra di
  • lick one's lips    leccarsi i baffi
  • lip reading    leggere le labbra
  • lip service    adesione formale
  • lips are sealed    acqua in bocca
  • not pass someone's lips    restare segreto
  • stiff upper lip    risolutezza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lábio (m) (Anat.), beirada (f)
v. - tocar com os lábios, beijar

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    ser falado pelas pessoas
  • bite one's lip    ficar nervosa
  • hang on his lips    estar preso às suas palavras
  • lick one's lips    lamber os beiços
  • lip reading    leitura (f) labial
  • lip service    devoção (f) da boca para fora
  • lips are sealed    lábios (m pl) estão selados
  • not pass someone's lips    manter segredo
  • stiff upper lip    manter a calma

Русский (Russian)
губа, выступ, губной, неискренний, касаться губами, бормотать

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    быть у всех на устах
  • bite one's lip    кусать губы
  • hang on his lips    внимательно слушать кого-л.
  • lick one's lips    облизывать губы, облизываться в предвкушении чего-л.
  • lip reading    чтение по губам
  • lip service    лицемерие
  • lips are sealed    печать молчания
  • not pass someone's lips    не проронить ни слова
  • stiff upper lip    упрямство, присутствие духа

Español (Spanish)
n. - labio, borde, boquilla, pico
v. tr. - labio, borde, boquilla, pico

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    estar en el candelero, estar en la boca de todo el mundo
  • bite one's lip    morderse la lengua
  • hang on someone's lips    escuchar con mucha atención
  • lick one's lips    relamerse, chuparse los dedos
  • lip reading    lectura de los labios, labiomancia
  • lip service    jarabe de pico, palabras, de los dientes para afuera
  • lips are sealed    sellar los labios, no decir ni jota
  • not pass someone's lips    no salir de los labios de uno
  • stiff upper lip    poner a mal tiempo buena cara, guardar la compostura, no inmutarse

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - läpp, läppar, mun, (bot.) läpp, kant, rad, bredd, pip, (sl.) uppkäftighet, fräckhet, prat, advokat, (mus.) embouchure, läppställning
v. - beröra med läpparna, (poet) kyssa, yttra (sakta), viska

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
嘴唇, 口, 唇的周围, 唇状物, 用嘴唇碰, 轻声说出, 运唇吹奏, 吻

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    大家都说的, 大家都在谈论的
  • bite one's lip    咬嘴唇以按下怒气
  • hang on his lips    全神贯注地倾听...
  • lick one's lips    舔嘴唇
  • lip reading    读唇术
  • lip service    应酬话, 假殷勤, 口惠
  • lips are sealed    守口如瓶
  • not pass someone's lips    不被某人吃掉, 不被说出来
  • stiff upper lip    面对困难表现坚定沉着

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 嘴唇, 口, 唇的周圍, 唇狀物
v. tr. - 用嘴唇碰, 輕聲說出, 運唇吹奏, 吻

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    大家都說的, 大家都在談論的
  • bite one's lip    咬嘴唇以按下怒氣
  • hang on his lips    全神貫注地傾聽...
  • lick one's lips    舔嘴唇
  • lip reading    讀唇術
  • lip service    應酬話, 假殷勤, 口惠
  • lips are sealed    守口如瓶
  • not pass someone's lips    不被某人吃掉, 不被說出來
  • stiff upper lip    面對困難表現堅定沉著

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 입술, 말 , 입술 모양의 것
v. tr. - 입술을 대다, 언저리를 만들다, 속삭이다, 씻다

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    모두가 아는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 唇, 唇の周辺, 縁, 口

idioms:

  • be on everyone's lips    皆の口にのぼる
  • lip reading    読唇術
  • lip service    リップサービス, 口先だけの厚意, 空世辞, 口だけの信心
  • lips are sealed    秘密にする

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شفه, جواب وقح, حافه, طرف (فعل) يقبل, يلفظ, يغني‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שפה, פה, חוצפה‬
v. tr. - ‮נגע בשפתיו, נגע קלות‬

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gardener's Dictionary. Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial.  Read more
Dream Symbol. The Dreams Encyclopedia. 1995 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lip".  Read more
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