▪ I. turbinate, a. and n.
(ˈtɜːbɪnət)
[ad. L. turbināt-us, f. turbo, turbin-: see turbo and -ate2.]
A. adj. Nat. Hist. Resembling a spinning-top in shape; of a mollusc, having a spiral shell; in Bot. spec. inversely conical; having a narrow tapering base and broad rounded apex; in Anat. applied to the scroll-like spongy bones of the nasal fossæ in the higher vertebrates.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Fishes, which are..testaceous, and..turbinate, which are either involute, as the Nautilus,..murex,..or orbicular, as the Welke. a 1706 Evelyn Sylva (1776) ii. i. §1 [The larch tribe] Easily raised of the kernels and nuts, which may be gotten out of their polysperm and turbinate cones. 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 283 The largest, as well as the most beautiful of the turbinate kind. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. xxii. (1765) 229 The Pericarpium is.. turbinate, Top-shaped, when it tapers towards the Base. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 24 C[onus] Hebræus, Lin. Shell turbinate, coronate, white..the spire convex, obtuse. 1840 G. V. Ellis Anat. 244 Three convoluted portions of bone named spongy or turbinate bones, which project into the cavity. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 366 Leucojum æstivum..Fruit turbinate. |
b. In combination, modifying another adj., as turbinate-lentiform, turbinate-truncate.
| 1887 W. Phillips Brit. Discomycetes 355 Tympanis Fraxini,..cups subsessile, turbinate-truncate, shining, black. |
B. n. a. A turbinate shell. b. A turbinate bone.
| 1802–3 tr. Pallas' Trav. (1812) I. 70 A multitude of turbinates of the large kind, and especially whole strata, full of small striped turbinates. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 84 That part of it immediately below the cribriform plate is called the upper spongy bone, or superior turbinate, or turbinal. 1903 Detroit Med. Jrnl. 733 (Cent. D. Suppl.) Cases of asthma treated by removal of the middle turbinate. |
▪ II. † ˈturbinate, v. Obs. rare.
[f. L. turbo, turbin- (see turbo) + -ate3.]
a. trans. To fashion like a top; to make top-shaped. b. intr. To turn or whirl like a top or a whirlwind.
| 1721 Bailey, Turbinate, to fashion like a Top, to sharpen at one End. 1791 Burke French Affairs Wks. VII. 41 The Russian Government is..liable to be subverted by military seditions,..and sometimes by headlong rebellions of the people, such as the turbinating movement of Pugatchef. |