tympanal, a. (n.) Anat. and Zool.
(ˈtɪmpənəl)
[f. tympan-um + -al1. So F. and Pg. tympanal.]
= tympanic 1.
| 1822–9 Good Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 273 An impeded motion of the air in the tympanal cavity. 1875 Sir W. Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 806/2 Alexander Achillini of Bologna..the first who described the two tympanal bones, termed malleus and incus. 1887 Amer. Naturalist XXI. 579 The only organs [in insects] which might be interpreted as answering functionally to an ear are the so-called tympanal organs of Orthoptera. |
B. n. A tympanal or tympanic bone.
| 1875 C. C. Blake Zool. 202 The upper jaw is represented by the vomer, the palatines, and the tympanals. 1883 Science I. 506/2 The tympanal is a horseshoe-like bone. |