What does the word ear mean?
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1. 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 tympanum with its ossicles; and the internal ear, which includes the labyrinth and cochlea. 2. The pinna, or auricle.
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Auris, Ous, ovs, Acoe, Saxon, eane, ( Prov.) Lug. ( F.) Oreille. The organ of audition. It is composed of a series of more or less irregular cavities, in which the sonorous rays are successively received and reflected, until they agitate the nerves which are destined to convey the impression to the brain. The ear is contained partly in the substance of the temporal bone; and a part projects externally, behind the joint of the lower jaw. It may be divided into three portions; the outer or external ear, formed by the auricle and meatus auditorius; the middle ear, comprising the cavity of the tympanum and its dependencies; and the internal ear, comprehending the three semicircular canals, the cochlea and the vestibule; which, together, constitute the osseous labyrinth. Within the cavity of this labyrioth are contained membranes having nearly the shape of the vestibule and semicircular canals, but not extending into the cochlea. These membranes form the membranous labyrinth. Between the osseous and the membranous labyrinth is situate the liquor of Cotunnius, and within the membranous labyrinth is a fluid, termed, by De Blainville, vitrine auditive, from its supposed analogy to the vitreous humour of the eye. The form of the membranous vestibule is not an exact imitation of the osseous cavity, being composed of two distinct sacs, which open into each other, -the one termed the Sacculus vestibuli; the other Sacculus Each sac contains in its interior a small mass of white calcareous matter resembling powdered chalk, which seems to be suspended in the fluid of the sacs by means of a number of nervous filaments proceeding from the auditory nerve. These are the otoconies and otolithes of Breschet. The auditory nerve is distributed to the cavities of the internal ear.
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[ Latin] The organ of hearing. The External e. consists of the cartilaginous and cutaneous pinna and the external auditory canal, the walls of which are partly cartilaginous, partly bony. It is separated by a vibratile muco-cutaneous membrane( drum-membrane, Membrane tympani) from the middle ear. The Middle e. ( Tympanum, Drum) is contained in a special cavity of the petrous part of the temporal bone. It contains the ossicles, namely( 1) the Malleus, which is attached to the drum-membrane, and articulates with( 2) the Incus, which in turn articulates with( 3) the Stapes, which is fixed in the fenestra ovalis on the inner wall of the middle e. The cavity of the middle e. consists of a large space( atrium) below, communicating through the Eustachian tube with the naso-pharynx; a small space( attic) above, more or less shut off from the atrium and containing the body and short process of the incus and the head and neck of the malleus; and the mastoid antrum and cells, connected with the attic by a narrow passage( aditus). The middle communicates with the inner e. ( vestibule) by two apertures, the fenestra rotunda, which is closed in by a vibratile membrane( Membra na tympani secundaria), and the fenestra ovalis, closed in by the foot-plate of the stapes. The Inner e., or Labyrinth, consists of the osseous vestibule, containing two membranous bags, the saccule and utricle; the three semicircular osseous canals enclosing the semicircular membranous canals which spring from the utricle; and the snail-shaped cochlea. The cavity of the cochlea is divided by a lamina, partly Dony( Lamina spiralis), partly membranous( Membrana basilaris), into two spiral canals, the Scala vestibuli communicating below with the vestibule, and Scala tympani, communicating through the fenestra rotunda with the tympanum; and the former is again divided by the oblique membrane of Reissner into two canals, the lower of which( Ductus cochlearis, Scala media) communicates inferiorly with the saccule by the canalis reuniens, and contains the organ of Corti. The latter consists of a series of several thousand rods( Cortis rods, Cortis fibres) standing side by side upon the membrana basilaris. These rods are arranged in two sets, an outer and an inner, which are inclined toward each other by their free upper extremities like the sloping sides of a roof, forming an arch( Cortis arch) which encloses a triangular canal( Cortis canal). Outside the external row of rods are three or four rows of ciliated cells( external ciliated cells, Cortis cells). Cortis organ is covered in above by Cortis membrane. The vestibule and other parts of the bony labyrinth are filled with a clear liquid( perilymph), and the continuous series or canals formed by the membranous labyrinth is filled with Soundwaves entering the external e. set in vibration the drum-membrane and the chain of ossicles, and this vibration, being transmitted through the fenestra ovalis, produces waves in the endolymph, the effect of which is accentuated by the presence of movable calcareous particles( otoliths) contained in the walls of tne membranous labyrinth.
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Usage examples for ear
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No human ear will hear me, to the day of my death. – Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins
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I have much to say to you that is not for the public ear. – Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
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A good ear is the gift of nature; it may be much improved, but it cannot be acquired by art. – The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
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