‖ pterygium
(ptəˈrɪdʒɪəm)
[L., a. Gr. πτερύγιον little wing, fin, dim. of πτέρυξ wing.]
1. Anat. (See quot.) ? Obs.
| 1684 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict., Pterygium, is the Wing or round Rising of the Nose or Eye, or the Process of the Bone Sphenoides which is like a Wing...Also the Nymphæ of a Womans secret Parts. |
2. Path. a. A diseased condition of the conjunctiva of the eye: see quots.
| 1657 Physical Dict., Pterygium, or haw in the eyes called unguis. 1875 H. Walton Dis. Eye 144 Pterygium generally grows as a flat triangularly-shaped tumour on the ocular conjunctiva, at the inner corner of the eye. 1884 G. Turner Samoa xi. 137 Connected with diseases of the eye, pterygium is common. |
b. A growth of the epidermis over the nails.
| 1899 J. Hutchinson in Archives of Surg. X. No. 38. 147 The nail-fold over the lunula is prolonged forwards, over the bed, as a fan-shaped, fleshy pterygium. |
3. Entom. (See quot.)
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 381 Pterygium.., in under-wings this is a small wing-like appendage, fixed at the base of the wing in some Lepidoptera. |
4. Bot. Term applied to petals and other appendages when shaped like wings.
| 1895 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |