1. A nearly round bottle with two handles used by the ancient Romans for wine, oil, or perfume.
2. Ecclesiastical. A vessel for consecrated wine or holy oil.
3. Anatomy. A small dilatation in a canal or duct, especially one in the semicircular canal of the ear.

[Middle English, from Old English, from Latin, diminutive of amphora. See amphora.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.