mesopterygoid Zool.
(mɛsəʊˈptɛrɪgɔɪd)
[f. meso- + pterygoid.]
1. In full mesopterygoid process: In birds, the part of the pterygoid which articulates with the palatine bone or the basipterygoid process of the splenoid, or with both.
| 1875 W. K. Parker in Encycl. Brit. III. 706/2 ‘Meso-pterygoid process’. Ibid. 711/1 All the Schizognathæ, except the Fowl tribe, have ‘meso-pterygoids’. |
b. mesopterygoid fossa: see quot.
| 1881 Mivart Cat iii. 70 The very considerable space included between the two pterygoid plates is called the meso⁓pterygoid fossa, and that is single and median. |
2. In teleostean fishes, a thin bony lamina in the skull, which fits against the upper edge of the pterygoid.
| 1890 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |