Isthmus

4 definitions found

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

  Isthmus \Isth"mus\ (?; 277), n.; pl. {Isthmuses}. [L. isthmus,
     Gr. 'isqmo`s a neck, a neck of land between two seas, an
     isthmus, especially the Isthmus of Corinth; prob. from the
     root of 'ie`nai to go; cf. Icel. ei[eth] isthmus. See
     {Issue}.] (Geog.)
     A neck or narrow slip of land by which two continents are


     connected, or by which a peninsula is united to the mainland;
     as, the Isthmus of Panama; the Isthmus of Suez, etc.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Isthmus of the fauces}. (Anat.) See {Fauces}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  isthmus
       n 1: a relatively narrow strip of land (with water on both sides)
            connecting two larger land areas
       2: a narrow band of tissue connecting two larger parts of an
          anatomical structure
       [also: {isthmi} (pl)]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  47 Moby Thesaurus words for "isthmus":
     abbreviation, astriction, astringency, bottleneck, canal, cervix,
     channel, circumscription, coarctation, compactedness, compaction,
     compression, compressure, concentration, condensation,
     consolidation, constriction, constringency, contraction,
     contracture, curtailment, decrease, defile, diminuendo, hourglass,
     hourglass figure, knitting, narrow, narrow place, narrowing,
     narrows, neck, pass, puckering, pursing, reduction, shortening,
     solidification, strait, stranglement, strangulation, striction,
     stricture, systole, throat, wasp waist, wrinkling
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ISTHMUS. A tongue or strip of land between two seas. Glos. on Law, 37, book 
  2, tit. 3, of the Dig.