pyriform, a.
(ˈpaɪərɪ-, ˈpɪrɪfɔːm)
Also piri-.
[ad. mod.L. pyriformis, f. pyrum, erron. med.L. spelling of pirum pear + -form.]
a. Of the shape of a pear, pear-shaped; obconic; differing from oviform in having a slight stricture at or near the narrow end.
| 1741 Monro Anat. Nerves (ed. 3) 77 The Receptaculum Chyli..is a..somewhat pyriform Bag. 1757 Johnstone in Phil. Trans. L. 546 This calculus..was of a pyriform shape. 1863 Wand. W. Africa II. 36 The fruit..is a pyriform pod with crimson skin enclosing black brown seeds. 1913 Cunningham's Text-bk. Anat. (ed. 4) 164 The apertura piriformis [ed. 3 (1909): pyriformis].., which lies below and in part between the orbits, is of variable shape and size—usually piriform [ed. 3: pyriform], it tends to be long and narrow in Europeans. 1928 V. G. Childe Most Anc. East v. 117 The piriform mace has a very long history in Babylonia. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Oct. 743/1 His performances on the putting green with an archaic piriform wooden putter were marked by a deadly accuracy. 1948 A. Brodal Neurol. Anat. x. 327 The olfactory fibres ultimately transmitting olfactory impulses to the cerebral cortex are those passing to the piriform lobe. 1948, 1962 [see palæopallium]. 1971 Country Life 15 July 184/1 Shapes of fashionable cruet glass followed those of silver. Castors were at first pyriform. 1973 M. R. Crowell Greener Pastures 167 Birds like the murre..lay triangular, or pyriform, eggs that roll in tight circles. 1973 Nature 3 Aug. 314/2 A small snout with a small piriform aperture projected from a broad and very flat face. |
b. Anat. Denoting a muscle of the hip. Usually in L. form pyriformis, also absol. (sc. musculus).
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Pyriformis, seu Iliacus Externus, is a Muscle of the Thigh. 1841 Ramsbotham Obstetr. Med. (1855) 4 The sciatic and pudic nerves, and the pyriform muscle. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 301 The Pyriformis arises from the front of the sacrum. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 859 The anterior wall of the pyriform sinus. |
c. In comb. with another adj. expressing form.
| 1821 W. P. C. Barton Flora N. Amer. I. 117 Root pyriform-bulbous. Ibid. 118 Germ pyriform-triangular. |
So ˈpyriformed a. rare, = prec.
| 1874 Archæol. Assoc. Jrnl. Dec. 433 Both spoons are of the sixteenth century... The pyriformed bowl is stamped with the maker's mark, a rose. |