Fossa

3 definitions found

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

  fossa \fos"sa\, n.; pl. {foss[ae]}. [L., a ditch. See {Fosse}.]
     (Anat.)
     A pit, groove, cavity, or depression, of greater or less
     depth; as, the temporal fossa on the side of the skull; the
     nasal foss[ae] containing the nostrils in most birds.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fossa
       n 1: a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical
            depression) [syn: {pit}]
       2: monotypic genus of Madagascar civets closely related to palm
          civets [syn: {genus Fossa}]
       3: largest carnivore of Madagascar; intermediate in some
          respects between cats and civets [syn: {fossa cat}, {Cryptoprocta
          ferox}]
       [also: {fossae} (pl)]

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

  FOSSA, Eng. law. A ditch full of water, where formerly women who had 
  committed a felony were drowned; the grave. Cowel, Int.