‖ tænia, tenia
(ˈtiːnɪə)
Pl. -æ, -as.
[L. tænia, a. Gr. ταινία a band, fillet, ribbon.]
1. Archæol. A headband, ribbon, or fillet.
| 1850 J. Leitch tr. C. O. Müller's Anc. Art §340 (ed. 2) 406 The twisted fillet of the athletes and of Hercules consists of several tæniæ of different colours. 1857 Birch Anc. Pottery (1858) I. 412 A wreath or branch, which is exchanged on the later vases for the tainia or fillet. |
2. Arch. In the Doric order, A band separating the architrave from the frieze. (So in Vitruvius.)
| 1563 Shute Archit. C j b, The Architraue..ye shal deuide into 6. parts wherof Tenia, to be the sixte part. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Tænia..is a Member of the Dorick Capital, which resembles the Shape of a square Fillet. 1817–48 Rickman Archit. (ed. 5) 32 The fillet of the tenia of the architrave is very nearly as large as the ogee under it. |
3. Surg. A long narrow ribbon used as a ligature.
| 1882 in Ogilvie (Annandale). |
4. Anat. A ribbon-like structure; applied esp. to the bands of white nervous matter in the brain and the longitudinal muscles of the colon.
| 1882 Ogilvie (Annandale), Tænia hippocampi, in anat. the plaited edges of the processes of the fornix. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., Tænia, a tape; in anatomy applied to tape- or band-like structures. |
5. Zool. A tapeworm [so in L.]; spec. (with capital initial) a genus of cestoid worms, including the common tapeworm. Also fig.
| [1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Tænia, broad Worms.] 1706 Phillips, Tænia. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Tape-worm, A fragment of the jointed tænia, sometimes voided..in separate pieces. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 121/1 The species of Tænia infesting the intestines of other animals are extremely numerous. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. ii. 60 The Tænias and similar animals. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. xi. 1606 Unbrokenly lay bare Each taenia that had sucked me dry of juice. |
6. Comb. tænia-chain, the whole series, or a number of the consecutive joints of a tapeworm; tænia-head, the scolex of a tapeworm, the worm itself without the proglottides or deutoscolices.
| 1878 Bell Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 130 A process of gemmation, the product of which is the Tænia-chain. |
Hence tænian (ˈtiːnɪən) a., pertaining to tapeworms; ˈtæniate a., tænioid, tæniiform.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1114 Conditions which favour the entrance of the tænian ova into man or the domestic herbivora. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Tæniatus..teniate. 1891 Cent. Dict., Tæniate. |