Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The thyroid gland.
  • noun The thyroid cartilage.
  • noun A dried, powdered preparation of the thyroid gland of certain domestic animals, used in treatment of hypothyroid conditions.
  • noun An artery, vein, nerve, or other part associated with the thyroid gland or thyroid cartilage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Shield-shaped.
  • Superior, a branch of the external carotid, distributed to the sternothyroid, sternohyoid, and omohyoid muscles and the thyroid body, and giving off the hyoid, sternomastoid, laryngeal, and cricothyroid branches.
  • Inferior, a branch of the thyroid axis, passing beneath the great cervical vessels to be distributed to the lower part of the thyroid body, to the scalenus anticus, longus colli, inferior constrictor, and the infrahyoid muscles, and giving off the ascending cervical, inferior laryngeal, tracheal, and esophageal branches.
  • noun The thyroid cartilage.
  • noun The thyroid gland.
  • noun A thyroid artery, vein, or nerve.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Shaped like an oblong shield; shield-shaped.
  • adjective (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the thyroid body, thyroid cartilage, or thyroid artery; thyroideal.
  • adjective See under Larynx.
  • adjective (Anat.) an endocrine gland having two lobes, located in the floor of the mouth or the region of the larynx, which secretes two hormones (thyroxine and triiodothyronine) that regulate the rates of growth and metabloism. In man and most mammals it is a highly vascular organ, partly surrounding the base of the larynx and the upper part of the trachea. Cases of hypothyroidism, where the gland is insufficiently active, can be treated by administration of thyroxine or a combination of thyroxine and triiodothyronine.
  • adjective (Surg.) dislocation of the thigh bone into the thyroid foramen.
  • adjective the obturator foramen.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy The thyroid gland.
  • noun The thyroid cartilage.
  • noun A preparation obtained from the thyroid gland.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun located near the base of the neck
  • adjective of or relating to the thyroid gland
  • adjective suggestive of a thyroid disorder

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek thureoeidēs : thureos, oblong shield (from thurā, door; see dhwer- in Indo-European roots) + -oeidēs, -oid.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek θυρεοειδής (thyreoeidēs, "shield-shaped"), from θυρεός (thyreos, "a large oblong shield") + εἶδος (eidos, "a form, shape").

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