scapula

[ skap-yuh-luh ]

noun,plural scap·u·las, scap·u·lae [skap-yuh-lee]. /ˈskæp yəˌli/.
  1. Anatomy. either of two flat, triangular bones, each forming the back part of a shoulder in humans; shoulder blade.

  2. Zoology. a dorsal bone of the pectoral girdle.

Origin of scapula

1
1570–80; <Latin: shoulder

Words Nearby scapula

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use scapula in a sentence

  • I can figure you with your Herodotus before you, your scapula on one side, and your maps on the other, setting-to in good earnest.

  • At an inn in Lincolnshire, a huge scapula is exhibited as a relic of the famous dun cow.

  • But there is no teleological reason why the coracoid process of the scapula should in all mammals develop from a separate centre.

    Form and Function | E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
  • The scapula (with supra-scapula) is the pleurapophysis, the coracoid the hæmapophysis, of the occipital vertebra.

    Form and Function | E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
  • In the pelvic girdle the ilium corresponds to the scapula, the ischium to the coracoid, the pubis to the clavicle.

    Form and Function | E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

British Dictionary definitions for scapula

scapula

/ (ˈskæpjʊlə) /


nounplural -lae (-liː) or -las
  1. either of two large flat triangular bones, one on each side of the back part of the shoulder in man: Nontechnical name: shoulder blade

  2. the corresponding bone in most vertebrates

Origin of scapula

1
C16: from Late Latin: shoulder

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for scapula

scapula

[ skăpyə-lə ]


Plural scapulae (skăpyə-lē′) scapulas
  1. Either of two flat, triangular bones forming part of the shoulder. In humans and other primates, the scapulae lie on the upper part of the back on either side of the spine. Also called shoulder blade See more at skeleton.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.