operculum

(ō-pûr'kyə-ləm)
n., pl., -la (-lə), or -lums.
A lid or flap covering an aperture, such as the gill cover in some fishes or the horny shell cover in snails or other mollusks.

[Latin, lid, from operīre, to cover.]

opercular o·per'cu·lar (-lər) adj.
opercularly o·per'cu·lar·ly adv.

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(ō-pûr'kyə-ləm)
n., pl. -lums or o·per·cu·la (-lə).

1. Something resembling a lid or cover.
2. The portions of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes covering the insula.
3. The mucus sealing the endocervical canal of the uterus after conception.
4. The attached flap in cases of torn retinal detachment.
5. The mucosal flap partially or completely covering an unerupted tooth.

o·per'cu·lar (-lər) adj.

Pl. opercula [L.]
1. a lid or covering.
2. the folds of pallium from the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes of the cerebrum overlying the insula.
3. gill cover in a fish.

• dental o. — the hood of gingival tissue overlying the crown of an erupting tooth.
• trophoblastic o. — the plug of trophoblast that helps close the gap in the endometrium made by the implanting blastocyst.

(ōpur′kyōōləm)
n

Flap of tissue over a partially erupted tooth, particularly a third molar in periocoronitis. See also perioronitis.

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