Acetabulum

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Acetabulum \Ac`e*tab"u*lum\, n. [L., a little saucer for
     vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a
        measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Anat.)
        (a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh
            bone.
        (b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted
            at its articulation with the body.
        (c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related
            animals.
        (d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches.
        (e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating
            animals.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  acetabulum
       n : the cup-shaped hollow in the hipbone into which the head of
           the femur fits to form a ball-and-socket joint [syn: {cotyloid
           cavity}]
       [also: {acetabula} (pl)]