‖ pyxis
(ˈpɪksɪs)
Also 5, 8 pixis. Pl. pyxides (ˈpɪksɪdiːz).
[L. pyxis: see pyx.]
1. A small box or vase; a casket; = pyx 1, 2.
| [1390 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 222 Item pro j pixide et tunder, fyryren et broches, j duc. xx s.] |
| 1536 Regr. Riches in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771) 190 Divers Pyxides of Ivory with clasps and without them, of silver, with many holy relicks. 1842 J. Yates in Smith's Dict. Gr. & Rom. Antiq. 812/2 Nero deposited his beard in a valuable pyxis, when he shaved for the first time. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Pyxis, a small box for holding salves, medicines, etc. 1907 Edin. Rev. Apr. 470 In ivory there is a cylindrical pyxis, pagan work of about the fourth century. |
2. Anat. The acetabulum or socket of the hip-bone, into which the head of the thigh-bone is inserted.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 176 Eueri of hem haþ a box þat is clepid pixis, haunche & vertebrum sit þeron. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pyxis, the Cavity of the Hip-bone, which is called Acetabulum. 1854–67 C. A. Harris Dict. Med. Terminol., Pyxis,..also, the acetabulum. |
3. (In full pyxis nautica.) The mariner's compass. Also, the name of one of the southern constellations, often considered as part of Argo.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. xii. 61, I had not the accomodation of the Pyxis, nor any Horizontal Plate divided into more points of the Compass. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 177/2 Pyxis nautica (the Mariner's Compass), a southern constellation of Lacaille, placed in Argo. |
4. Bot. a. = pyxidium. † b. The theca of a moss. Obs. c. A cup-like dilatation of the podetium in lichens, having shields on its edge.
| 1845 Lindley Sch. Bot. i. (1858) 17 The pyxis, which throws off a cap, as in the Henbane. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. vii. §2. 293 A Pyxis or Pyxidium is a dry fruit which opens by a circular line, cutting off the upper part as a lid. |
5. Zool. a. A genus of land-tortoises, having as the only known species Pyxis arachnoides (Gray) of Madagascar and Mauritius. b. A genus of coleopterous insects, containing about 8 species (Dejean, 1834). † c. A synonym of Productus, a genus of Brachiopods (Chemnitz, 1784).