pelvis

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A basin-shaped structure of the vertebrate skeleton, composed of the innominate bones on the sides, the pubis in front, and the sacrum and coccyx behind, that rests on the lower limbs and supports the spinal column.
2. n. The cavity formed by this structure.
3. n. The hollow funnel in the outlet of the kidney, into which urine is discharged before entering the ureter. Also called renal pelvis.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A bony basin forming the most inferior of posterior one of the three great cavities—thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic—of the trunk of most terrestrial vertebrates. A perfect pelvis is formed on each side by the haunch-bones, consisting of ilium, ischium, and pubis, meeting in front at the pubic symphysis, and completed behind by the sacrum, with which the iliac bones articulate, and by more or fewer coccygeal or caudal vertebræ. But the pubic symphysis is wanting, as a rule, in animals below mammals; there is sometimes an ischiac and often an iliac symphysis. In any case, a recognizable ilium or ischium or pubis, however rudimentary, constitutes in so far a pelvis. The human pelvis is complete, and of normal composition, but remarkable for its shortness, width, axial curvature, and obliquity with reference to the long axis of the body. A perpendicular to the plane of the inlet would leave the abdomen at the umbilicus, and a perpendicular to the plane of the outlet would strike the promontory of the sacrum. The pelvis is divided into true and false—the latter being that part which is above the iliopectineal line, the former below the same line, which thus represents, in part, the brim or superior strait of the true pelvis. The false pelvis is broad and shallow, composed, as far as bone is concerned, chiefly by the flaring iliac fossæ, its front wall being made by the lower part of the abdominal parietes; and in the erect attitude the mass of abdominal viscera rests largely upon this part of the basin. The true pelvis is more contracted, and chiefly the basin. The true pelvis is more contracted, and chiefly bony as to its walls. Its inlet or superior plane, cordiform in shape, is circumscribed by the pelvic brim, which is formed by the iliopectineal crest, completed in front by the spine and crest of the pubes, and behind by the curved ridge and promontory of the sacrum. The lower plane, or outlet, known also as the inferior strait, is bounded by a very irregular line of bone, the point of the coccyx being in the middle line behind, and the tuberosity of the ischium on each side; between which three points the bony outlet is deeply emarginated behind, on each side, by the great sacrosciatic notch, and in front by the arch of the pubes, formed by the conjoined rami of the pubes and ischia. In life these notches are largely filled in by ligaments (the greater and lesser sacrosciatic ligaments on each side, and the traingular or infrapublic ligament in front). The obturator membrane also closes in what would otherwise be a large vacuity on each side, the obturator foramen. The inlet of the pelvis is not closed by any structure; but. the outlet is floored by the levator ani muscle, the skin of the perineum, and associated soft parts. The pelvic cavity contains the lower bowel and most of the organs of generation. After puberty the male and female pelves differ usually to a recognizable extent in size and shape; that of the male being more massive and contracted, that of the female lighter and more expansive. See also cuts under Catarrhina, Dromæus, Elephantinæ; Equidæ, innominatum, ligament, Or-nithoscelida, ox, quarter, and sacrarium.
2. n. Hence Some pelviform structure or cuplike part. The infundibuliform beginning of the ureter, constituting the principal cavity of the kidney, into which the pyramids project and the urine flows. See cut under kidney
3. n. [capitalized] A genus of mollusks.

Wiktionary

1. n. The large compound bone structure at the base of the spine that supports the legs. It consists of hip bone, sacrum and coccyx.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The pelvic arch, or the pelvic arch together with the sacrum. See Pelvic arch, under pelvic, and sacrum.
2. n. The calyx of a crinoid.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a structure shaped like a funnel in the outlet of the kidney into which urine is discharged before passing into the ureter
2. n. the structure of the vertebrate skeleton supporting the lower limbs in humans and the hind limbs or corresponding parts in other vertebrates