LABYRINTH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does labyrinth mean? 

• LABYRINTH (noun)
  The noun LABYRINTH has 2 senses:

1. complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lost

2. a complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium

  Familiarity information: LABYRINTH used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LABYRINTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lost

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

labyrinth; maze

Hypernyms ("labyrinth" is a kind of...):

system (instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity)

Instance hyponyms:

Labyrinth of Minos (a vast labyrinth built in Crete by Daedalus at the command of Minos in order to contain the Minotaur)

Derivation:

labyrinthian (resembling a labyrinth in form or complexity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A complex system of interconnecting cavities; concerned with hearing and equilibrium

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

inner ear; internal ear; labyrinth

Hypernyms ("labyrinth" is a kind of...):

receptor; sense organ; sensory receptor (an organ having nerve endings (in the skin or viscera or eye or ear or nose or mouth) that respond to stimulation)

Meronyms (parts of "labyrinth"):

neuroepithelium (epithelium associated with special sense organs and containing sensory nerve endings)

membranous labyrinth (the sensory structures of the inner ear including the labyrinthine receptors and the cochlea; contained within the bony labyrinth)

bony labyrinth; osseous labyrinth (cavity in the petrous part of the temporal bone that contains the membranous labyrinth)

endolymph (the bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

perilymph (the bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear)

semicircular canal (one of three tube loops filled with fluid and in planes nearly at right angles with one another; concerned with equilibrium)

cochlea (the snail-shaped tube (in the inner ear coiled around the modiolus) where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses by the organ of Corti)

artery of the labyrinth; internal auditory artery; labyrinthine artery (an artery that is a branch of the basilar artery that supplies the labyrinth)

internal auditory vein; labyrinthine vein (veins that drain the inner ear)

Holonyms ("labyrinth" is a part of...):

auditory apparatus (all of the components of the organ of hearing including the outer and middle and inner ears)

 Context examples 

Any deviation from the normal structure or function of the ear or labyrinth that is manifested by a characteristic set of symptoms and signs.

(Ear and Labyrinth Disorder Class, NCI Thesaurus)

It was a labyrinth of an old house, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It consists of four parts: a horizontal or cribriform plate; a perpendicular plate; and two lateral masses or labyrinths.

(Ethmoid Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

The vestibular nerve carries information from the labyrinths of the inner ear to the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem.

(Murine Vestibulocochlear Nerve, NCI Thesaurus)

The bodily fluid that fills the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear.

(Endolymph, NCI Thesaurus)

Numerous small thin-walled spaces or air cells in the ethmoid bone, where they form an ethmoidal labyrinth.

(Ethmoid sinus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The bodily fluid that fills the space between the bony labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear.

(Perilymph, NCI Thesaurus)

It forms the anterior part of the labyrinth, is conical, and is placed almost horizontally anterior to the vestibule.

(Cochlea, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The figure in these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any time he dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily through sleeping houses, or move the more swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to dizziness, through wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, and at every street corner crush a child and leave her screaming.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old house, especially the original wing, which is now practically uninhabited; but we ransacked every room and cellar without discovering the least sign of the missing man.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)