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Sternum   Listen
noun
Sternum  n.  (pl. L. sterna, E. sternums)  
1.
(Anat.) A plate of cartilage, or a series of bony or cartilaginous plates or segments, in the median line of the pectoral skeleton of most vertebrates above fishes; the breastbone. Note: The sternum is connected with the ribs or the pectorial girdle, or with both. In man it is a flat bone, broad anteriorly, narrowed behind, and connected with the clavicles and the cartilages of the seven anterior pairs of ribs. In most birds it has a high median keel for the attachment of the muscles of the wings.
2.
(Zool.) The ventral part of any one of the somites of an arthropod.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sternum" Quotes from Famous Books



... pain when getting up or lying down; grunting and pain upon sudden motion, especially downhill; coughing; pain on pressure over the second stomach, which lies immediately above the cartilaginous prolongation of the sternum. If the presence of such a foreign body is recognized, it may be removed by a difficult surgical operation, or, as is usually most economical, the animal may be killed for beef, if ...
— Special Report on Diseases of Cattle • U.S. Department of Agriculture

... Carriers differ more than any wild pigeons, even those classed in distinct genera. The breadth and number of the ribs vary, as well as the processes on them; the number of the vertebrae and the length of the sternum also vary; and the perforations in the sternum vary in size and shape. The oil gland varies in development, and is sometimes absent. The number of the wing-feathers varies, and those of the tail to an enormous extent. The ...
— Darwinism (1889) • Alfred Russel Wallace

... is often first to be perceived by the difficulty of breathing and palpitation of the heart on walking a little faster than usual, which I suppose is owing to the softness of the ends of the ribs adjoining to the sternum; on which account they do not perfectly distend the chest, when they are raised by the pectoral and intercostal muscles with greater force than usual. After this the spine becomes curved both by the softness of its vertebrae, and for the purpose of making room for ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... behind the upper ribs, it moves with absolute freedom, backwards and forwards, up and down, unconnected with any other bone, till, turning the corner of the shoulder, it is hinged rather than tied to the collar-bone; the collar-bone itself free to move upwards from its articulation in the sternum. And then talk of the great works of man! Talk of Brunellesco and his cupola, of the engineers of the Duke of Calabria! Look at the human arm: what engineer would have dared to fasten anything to such a movable base as ...
— Renaissance Fancies and Studies - Being a Sequel to Euphorion • Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)

... was by some curious method of sudden arterial stoppage. Old as they were, some fiendish trick was employed so skilfully that the result was actual heart failure. There was no trace of drugs in lungs or blood. On each man's breast, beneath the sternum bone I found a dull, barely discernible bruise mark, which I later removed by a simple massage ...
— The Voice on the Wire • Eustace Hale Ball

... is relatively larger, according to the weight of the animal, than in horses used for slow work. It is suspended from the spine by the large blood vessels and held in position below by the attachment of the pericardium to the sternum. It is inclosed in a sac, the pericardium, which is composed of a dense fibrous membrane lined by a delicate serous membrane, which is reflected over the heart; the inner layer is firmly adherent to the heart, the outer to the fibrous sac, and there is an intervening ...
— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture



Words linked to "Sternum" :   xiphoid process, pectus, os, gladiolus, bone, thorax, corpus sternum, chest, axial skeleton



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