operculum
American Heritage Dictionary:
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o·per·cu·lum
(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.
opercularly o·per'cu·lar·ly adv.
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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operculum
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary:
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o·per·cu·lum
(ō-pûr'kyə-ləm)
n., pl. -lums or o·per·cu·la (-lə).
n., pl. -lums or o·per·cu·la (-lə).
- Something resembling a lid or cover.
- The portions of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes covering the insula.
- The mucus sealing the endocervical canal of the uterus after conception.
- The attached flap in cases of torn retinal detachment.
- The mucosal flap partially or completely covering an unerupted tooth.
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:
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operculum
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.
Mosby's Dental Dictionary:
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operculum
(ōpur′kyōōləm)
n
n
Flap of tissue over a partially erupted tooth, particularly a third molar in periocoronitis. See also perioronitis.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Operculum
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Look up opercula or operculum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
An operculum is a small covering or lid, and is widely used in descriptions of the animal and plant world.
Operculum may refer to:
- Operculum (animal), a stiff structure resembling a lid or a small door that opens and closes
- Operculum (gastropod), a lid on the shell of some gastropods
- Operculum (bryozoa), a lid on the orifice of some bryozoans
- Operculum (fish), a flap of the bony fish covering the gills
- Operculum (bird), a structure which covers the nares of some birds
- Operculum (botany), various lids and flaps pertaining to plants, algae and fungi
- Operculum (brain), a part of the human brain
- Operculum (dentistry), a small flap of tissue which may cover an erupting or partially erupted molar
- Operculum (pregnancy), the cervical mucus plug that blocks the cervix of the uterus after conception
See also
- Dehiscence (botany), the opening of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents. This sometimes involves an operculum.
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
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.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Saunders 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.
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Mosby's Dental Dictionary
Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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