Definitions

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

  • noun An anvil-shaped bone between the malleus and the stapes in the mammalian middle ear.
  • noun A thunderhead.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In zoology and anatomy: One of the bones of the inner (middle) ear of a mammal: so named from its fancied resemblance to an anvil.

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

  • noun An anvil.
  • noun (Anat.) One of the small bones in the tympanum of the ear; the anvil bone. See Ear.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The central portion of the armature of the pharynx in the Rotifera.

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

  • noun anatomy A small anvil-shaped bone in the middle ear.
  • noun meteorology an accessory cloud, in the shape of an anvil which forms by spreading at the top of a cumulonimbus.

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

  • noun the ossicle between the malleus and the stapes

Etymologies

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

[Latin incūs, incūd-, anvil, from incūsus, past participle of incūdere, to forge with a hammer : in-, intensive pref.; see in– + cūdere, to beat, forge; see kau- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin incūs ("anvil").

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Examples

  • Connected with the malleus is another small bone, called the incus, or anvil, which is connected with another, called the stapes, or stirrup, from its shape.

    Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Or The Laws of Animal Life, in Health and Disease Thomas Garnett 1784

  • The malleus is connected through a tiny joint to the incus, which is attached to the stapes, both of which vibrate in their turn as result of the vibrations of the bone preceding them.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] MindyMo 2010

  • "The malleus and the incus are the remnants of bones that in our reptilian ancestors were to be found in the jaw, as I explained earlier.

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • The peripheral system includes the external ear (auricle and ear canal), the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, the middle ear (three small and connected bones: malleus, incus, and stapes), the oval window boundary, and the inner ear (vestibular system and cochlea).

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • The peripheral system includes the external ear (auricle and ear canal), the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, the middle ear (three small and connected bones: malleus, incus, and stapes), the oval window boundary, and the inner ear (vestibular system and cochlea).

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • The peripheral system includes the external ear (auricle and ear canal), the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, the middle ear (three small and connected bones: malleus, incus, and stapes), the oval window boundary, and the inner ear (vestibular system and cochlea).

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • The peripheral system includes the external ear (auricle and ear canal), the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, the middle ear (three small and connected bones: malleus, incus, and stapes), the oval window boundary, and the inner ear (vestibular system and cochlea).

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

  • “The malleus, the incus, and the stapes,” I answered automatically.

    Hardy Boys Haunted Franklin W. Dixon 2008

  • “The malleus, the incus, and the stapes,” I answered automatically.

    Hardy Boys Haunted Franklin W. Dixon 2008

  • “The malleus, the incus, and the stapes,” I answered automatically.

    Hardy Boys Haunted Franklin W. Dixon 2008

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