nuchal
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary:
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Nu·chal
a.
[Cf. F. nucal.]
(Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the back, or nape, of the neck; -- applied especially to the anterior median plate in the carapace of turtles.
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Pertaining to the top of the neck.
- n. crest — see nuchal crest.
- n. disease — fistulous withers and poll evil.
- n. ligament — a powerful elastic apparatus that serves to support the head without muscular effort. It joins either the occipital bone or the axis to the dorsal thoracic spines (withers in the horse) and is continuous with the thoracolumbar part of the supraspinous ligament. The dorsal, rope-like funicular part is connected by the lamellar part to the spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae. In some species the lamellar part consists of two independent sheets closely applied to each other; in others it is absent.
