ilium Anat.
(ˈɪlɪəm)
Pl. ilia. Also 4–7 ilion, 6 pl. ilions.
[L. īlium that part of the abdomen which extends from the lowest ribs to the pubes, groin, or flank; in classical L. only in pl. īlia (from īle or īlium) flanks, sides, also entrails.
In mediæval medical Latin a Græcized form īlion, deduced from pl. īlia, was in use, whence the early forms in the quots. (Cf. F. ilion (16th c. in Paré), now also ilium.) See also ileum, now used in one of the senses of ilium.]
† 1. The third portion of the small intestine; the ileum. Obs.
| 1388 Wyclif Lev. iii. 15 The calle which is..bisidis ilion [v.r. the ilion: 1382 biside the reyne guttes]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xlix. (1495) 263 The gutte that hyghte Ilion is a smalle gutte and longe biclyppinge other guttes aboute. 1541 Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. H iv a, Y⊇ sklendre gut that hyght Ylion..it hath many reuolucyons. 1681 tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Ilion,..the thin gut or small gut. 1827 Abernethy Surg. Wks. I. 121 The villous coat of the ilium. |
† 2. pl. The parts of the body beneath the ribs on each side; the flanks (L. īlia). Obs.
| 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Physick iii. xlii. 171 Cupping glasses fastened to the ilions, and the loines. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Ilia, the Flanks, the side-parts of the lower Belly between the last Rib and the Privities. |
3. The anterior or superior bone of the pelvis, the hip-bone; it occurs in most vertebrates above fishes, and has various forms and relative positions; usually (as in man) it articulates with the sacrum, and anchyloses with the ischium and pubis, forming together with these latter the os innominatum.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Coxæ Os, In Infants it consists of three Bones, viz. Ilium, Ischium, and Os Pubis. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Innominatum, Three bones; viz. the ilium, the pubis and ischium. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 115 The Anterior and Inferior spinous process of the ilium. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 178 A widely expanded upper part joins the sacrum and extends down to the socket for the thigh. This is the ilium. |