MEATUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does meatus mean? 

• MEATUS (noun)
  The noun MEATUS has 1 sense:

1. a natural body passageway

  Familiarity information: MEATUS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MEATUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A natural body passageway

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

passage; passageway (a path or channel or duct through or along which something may pass)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "meatus"):

acoustic meatus; auditory canal; auditory meatus; ear canal; external auditory canal (either of the passages in the outer ear from the auricle to the tympanic membrane)

nasal meatus (the passages in the nasal cavity formed by the projections of the nasal conchae)

 Context examples 

It is caused also in infants by failure of the nasolacrimal duct to open into the inferior meatus and occurs about the third week of life.

(Lacrimal Duct Obstruction, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A sinus of the meatuses of the nasal cavity.

(Ethmoid sinus, NCI Thesaurus)

The portion of the urethra that extends from the meatus to the membranous urethra.

(Anterior Portion of the Urethra, NCI Thesaurus)

Discharge of cerebrospinal fluid through the external auditory meatus or through the eustachian tube into the nasopharynx.

(Cerebrospinal Fluid Otorrhea, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The cavity-like space in the lower portion of the concha that forms the vestibule, leading to the external acoustic meatus.

(Cavum Conchae, NCI Thesaurus)

A vein that drains the auricle and acoustic meatus of the external ear.

(Anterior Auricular Vein, NCI Thesaurus)

A test for patency of the lacrimal system; fluorescein instilled in the conjunctival sac can be recovered from the inferior nasal meatus.

(Jones Test, NCI Thesaurus)

The organ of hearing: composed of the external ear, which includes the auricle and the external acoustic, or auditory, meatus; the middle ear, or the tympanic cavity with its ossicles; and the internal ear or inner ear, or labyrinth, which includes the semicircular canals, vestibule, and cochlea.

(Murine Ear, NCI Thesaurus)

The geniculate ganglion cells send central processes to the brain stem and peripheral processes to the taste buds in the anterior tongue, the soft palate, and the skin of the external auditory meatus and the mastoid process.

(Geniculate Ganglion, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)