‖ dura mater Anat.
(ˈdjʊərə ˈmeɪtə(r))
[Med.L. = hard mother; literal translation of the Arabic umm al-γalīḍah or umm al-jāfīyah (Bocthor) in the same sense, in accordance with the Arabic use of ‘father’, ‘mother’, ‘son’, etc. to indicate relations between things.]
The dense, tough, outermost membranous envelope of the brain and spinal cord.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 112 An hard pannicle þat is to seie a clooþ þat is vndir þe brayn panne..þe which pannicle..is clepid dura mater. 1525 tr. Brunswyke's Surg. A iv b/1 (Stanf.) Than within be ij. small fleces named dura mater and pia mater, than the substance of the braynes. 1717 Prior Alma iii. 157 How could I play the commentator On dura and on pia mater? 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 270 The Dura Mater is an inelastic membrane, about the thickness of parchment. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. ix. 365 The solid structures which protect the cerebro-spinal axis are lined by a dense membrane—the dura mater. |