Definitions

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

  • noun An opening or orifice, as in a bone or in the covering of the ovule of a plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy and zoology, a hole or an opening; an orifice; a fissure; a short passage.
  • noun In botany, an opening of any kind; specifically, the orifice of the coats of the ovule.
  • noun See the adjectives.
  • noun The carotid canal itself.
  • noun Posterior, for the passage of a vein.
  • noun Of the medulla oblongata, a cul-de-sac forming the termination of the anterior median fissure behind the pons. Also called foramen cæcum of Vicq d'Azyr.
  • noun Of the tongue, a depression about the large middle circumvallate papilla.
  • noun Of the sphenoid bone, a hole in the greater wing of the sphenoid, or between this and the temporal bone, for the passage of the third division of the fifth cranial nerve. See cut under sphenoid.

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

  • noun A small opening, perforation, or orifice; a fenestra.
  • noun (Anat.) the opening from each lateral into the third ventricle of the brain.
  • noun (Anat.) the opening connecting the sac of the omentum with the general cavity of the peritoneum.

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

  • noun anatomy an opening, an orifice; a short passage.

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

  • noun a natural opening or perforation through a bone or a membranous structure

Etymologies

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

[Latin forāmen, an opening, from forāre, to bore.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin forāmen ("aperture, opening").

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Examples

  • "If the foramen is not open," Costa stresses, "there is no flow of spirit to the posterior part of the brain and the person does not remember and will not respond to the questions he is asked.

    Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008

  • The first is a structure called the foramen ovale.

    Tetralogy of Fallot — What is Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF)? 2010

  • Nerves exit the spine through a small space called a foramen.

    You Being Beautiful Michael F. Roizen 2008

  • Nerves exit the spine through a small space called a foramen.

    You Being Beautiful Michael F. Roizen 2008

  • What we do know for certain is that walking bipedally coincided with a change in where our spinal column enters the skull through a "big hole" called the foramen magnum.

    Human Family Walks on All Fours Field Notes 2006

  • What we do know for certain is that walking bipedally coincided with a change in where our spinal column enters the skull through a "big hole" called the foramen magnum.

    Archive 2006-11-01 Field Notes 2006

  • It travels through an opening, or foramen, that is close to the jawbone and serves many of the organs of the upper chest, including the heart, stomach, and esophagus.

    Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001

  • It travels through an opening, or foramen, that is close to the jawbone and serves many of the organs of the upper chest, including the heart, stomach, and esophagus.

    Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001

  • Near the middle of this surface is the nutrient foramen, which is directed downward.

    II. Osteology. 6c. 6. The Fibula 1918

  • The Anterior Median Fissure (fissura mediana anterior; ventral or ventromedian fissure) contains a fold of pia mater, and extends along the entire length of the medulla oblongata: it ends at the lower border of the pons in a small triangular expansion, termed the foramen cecum.

    IX. Neurology. 4a. The Hind-brain or Rhombencephalon 1918

Comments

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  • "A somewhat rare congenital condition of the sternum is a sternal foramen, a single round hole in the breastbone that is present from birth and usually is off-centered to the right or left, commonly forming in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th segments of the breastbone body. Congenital sternal foramens can often be mistaken for bullet holes."

    -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sternum

    July 9, 2015

  • "This was nothing more than a small propeller, or series of them, mounted in a tubular foramen wrought through the body of the aerostat, drawing in air at one end and forcing it out the other to generate thrust."

    The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, p 56 of the Spectra trade paperback

    May 17, 2016