Hippocampus - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hip·po·cam·pus

Audio Help [hip-uh-kam-puh

s] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -pi

Audio Help [-pahy, -pee] Pronunciation Key.

1.	Classical Mythology. a sea horse with two forefeet, and a body ending in the tail of a dolphin or fish.

2.	Anatomy. an enfolding of cerebral cortex into the lateral fissure of a cerebral hemisphere, having the shape in cross section of a sea horse.

[Origin: 1600–10; < L < Gk hippókampos, equiv. to hippo- hippo- + kámpos sea monster

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Hippocampus

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hip·po·cam·pus Audio Help (hĭp'ə-kām'pəs) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. hip·po·cam·pi (-pī')
A ridge in the floor of each lateral ventricle of the brain that consists mainly of gray matter and has a central role in memory processes.

[Late Latin, a sea horse with a horse's forelegs and a dolphin's tail (from its shape in cross section), from Greek hippokampos : hippos, horse; see ekwo- in Indo-European roots + kampos, sea monster.]

hip'po·cam'pal (-pəl) adj.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hippocampus
noun
1.	a complex neural structure (shaped like a sea horse) consisting of grey matter and located on the floor of each lateral ventricle; intimately involved in motivation and emotion as part of the limbic system; has a central role in the formation of memories
2.	seahorses

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hippocampus Audio Help (hĭp'ə-kām'pəs) Pronunciation Key
Plural hippocampi (hĭp'ə-kām'pī')
A convoluted, seahorse-shaped structure in the cerebral cortex of the temporal lobe of the brain, composed of two gyri with white matter above gray matter. It forms part of the limbic system and is involved in the processing of emotions and memory.