▪ I. ‖ concha
(ˈkɒŋkə)
Also (in sense 2) conca.
[L. concha, It. conca: see prec.]
† 1. Zool. A shell; a bivalve mollusc; = conch 1, 2. Obs.
| 1755 T. Amory Mem. (1769) II. 216 A display of all the most beautiful conchæ, various marcasites, corals, and fossil gems. 1776 Da Costa Elem. Conchol. 94 Eight principal classes or families, viz... 4. Limpets. 5. Conchæ, or Bi⁓valves. |
2. Archit. = conch 5; also, a coved ceiling.
| 1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 39 The manner of Arches are..Rotonda, a Lunette, and a Conca. 1832 Gell Pompeiana I. vi. 103 The walls of the alcoves were blue and the concas or coves red. 1853 Ruskin Stones Ven. II. iii. §14 The apse is roofed by a concha or semi-dome. 1875 Parker Gloss. Archit., Concha, name applied to the apse from the shell-like shape of the vault. |
3. An ancient Roman vessel shaped like a shell; = conch 4.
| 16.. Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 109 The admirable figure of Marforius, casting water into a most ample concha. |
4. Anat. and Zool. a. The central concavity of the external ear, which communicates with the auditory meatus; sometimes used for the whole external ear.
| 1683 Phil. Trans. XIII. 259 That part of the Ear which we call the Concha from its resemblance to the entrance of a snail-shell. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Concha..in Anatomy, the winding of the Cavity or Hollow of the Inner part of the Ear. 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade Mec. 461 The large central space to which all the channels converge is the concha. 1866 Huxley Phys. viii. (1869) 233 The outer extremity of the external meatus is surrounded by the concha or external ear..The concha can be moved in various directions by muscles. |
b. Another term for the vulva. [So in L.]
| 1855 Ramsbotham Obstetr. Med. 33 The..concha or fossa navicularis..contains within its precincts the clitoris, etc. |
c. Any one of the three turbinated bones of the nose (c. inferior, media, superior).
d. A depression enclosed by a circle of feathers, surrounding the eye in some birds.
| 1834 R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 100 [The eyes of the harrier] are provided with a concha, or circle of feathers, radiating from the orbit. 1874 Wood Nat. Hist. 278. |
▪ II. concha
obs. f. kunkur.