hyoid

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to the hyoid bone.
2. n. The hyoid bone.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Having the form of Greek letter upsilon, υ. In biology and embryology it is applied to the bony or hard parts developed in the second postoral visceral arch of the embryo, this being called the hyoid or hyoidean arch or apparatus, as distinguished from preceding mandibular or succeeding branchial parts.
2. n. The tongue-bone or os linguæ); the hyoidean bone or collection of bones: so called from its shape in man. In man it is embedded in the muscles of the root of the tongue, lying nearly horizontal with its convexity forward, usually about on a level with the lower border of the under jaw, considerably above the Adam's apple; but it is displaced in every act of swallowing. This horseshoe-shaped arch forms the bony basis of the tongue. (See cut under mouth.) No fewer than 10 muscles arise from or are inserted into it; and it is besides suspended from the skull by the stylohyoid ligament, and connected with the larynx by the thyrohyoid membrane and ligament, and with the epiglottis by the hyo-epiglottic ligament. Its comparatively small size and simple structure in man are unusual; in most animals the bone is either relatively larger, or consists of a number of separate bones, indications of which are found in the human species in the several ossific centers from which the bone originates. Thus, the body of the human hyoid is the basihyal; the lesser cornua or horns are the ceratohyals, and the greater cornua are the thyrohyals. (See cut under skull.) In a saurop-sidan, as a bird, the so-called hyoid bone is the whole skeleton of the tongue, consisting of several parts developed in a branchial arch, as well as hyoidean parts properly so called. These parts are the basihyal, glossohyal, and ceratohyal or epihyal of thehyoidean arch proper; with the urohyal or basibranchial, the epibranchial, and the ceratobranchial, these three belonging to a branchial arch, and the last two of them being commonly known as the thyrohyal or greater cornu of the hyoid bone. The elements of the hyoid bone of an osseous fish are the basihyal, glossohyal, urohyal, epihyal, ceratohyal, and stylohyal.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Shaped like a U, or like the letter upsilon; specifically, designating a bone or group of bones supporting the tongue.
2. n. The hyoid bone.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Having the form of arch, or of the Greek letter upsilon [Υ].
2. adj. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the bony or cartilaginous arch which supports the tongue. Sometimes applied to the tongue itself.
3. n. The hyoid bone.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. of or relating to the hyoid bone
2. n. a U-shaped bone at the base of the tongue that supports the tongue muscles