‖ uterus
(ˈjuːtərəs)
Pl. ‖ uteri (ˈjuːtəraɪ).
[L.; whence F. utérus (Paré). Cf. It., Sp., Pg. utero.]
1. In the primates: The organ in which the young are conceived, developed, and protected till birth; the female organ of gestation; the womb.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man iv. xiii. (1631) 222 It is called Vterus properly in women. 1638 A. Read Man. Anat. Body of Man 239 The hypogastricall veins,..as soone as they come to be implanted into the substance of the uterus,..lose their owne coats. 1702 Drake in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1236 The Observation and Experiment being made on the Uterus of a Cow. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Matrix, The Cavity of the Uterus. 1770 Med. Observ. (1772) IV. 388 The History of a fatal Inversion of the Uterus. 1834 Owen in Phil. Trans. CXXIV. 333 A Description of the Impregnated Uterus of the Kangaroo. 1837 Baly tr. Müller's Physiol. 1580 An examination of recently impregnated uteri. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man I. iv. 123 In all mammals the uterus is developed from two simple primitive tubes. |
| transf. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Generation, Every Herb and Tree bears its Seed..; which being thrown into the Earth, as into its Uterus, spreads forth its Roots. |
b. In the lower female animals, fishes, or birds: The matrix; the ovary.
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., Uterus of Fishes. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 383/2 Leeches are oviparous. The ova remain in the uterus for some time. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. 178 The outer, or vaginal, end of the uterus [in Turbellaria]. 1878 F. J. Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 182 Special portions of the oviduct [in Vermes] function as a Uterus, by which name parts, very different morphologically, are known. 1880 Günther Fishes 166 The ends of the uteri open..into the cloaca. |
c. (See
quot.)
| 1841 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 200 The vulva [in leeches]..leads into a pear-shaped membranous bag, which is usually, but improperly, named the uterus. |
2. Bot. a. = pericarp.
| 1676 Grew Anat. Flowers vii. heading, The Time, in which the Uterus or Fruit and Seed-Case are formed. 1677 ― Anat. Fruits iii. v. §1 The Fruit, strictly so called, is, A Fleshy Uterus, which grows more moist and Pulpy, as the Seed ripens. But the Seed-Case..is, A Membraneous Uterus. |
† b. (See
quot.)
Obs. rare—1.
| 1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. 396 Stygma, the female Uterus, at the Top of the Pistil, furnished with a moist Humour. |
c. In Fungi: (see later
quots.).
| 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 981 Angiogastres. Uterus finally bursting forth, separate from the receptacle. 1836 M. J. Berkeley Fungi in Smith's Eng. Flora V. ii. 19 Uterus sessile, bursting irregularly, marbled internally with anastomosing veins. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1197/2 Uterus, the volva or receptacle of certain fungals. 1895 M. C. Cooke Study Fungi 356/2 Peridium, the enveloping coat of a sporophore, or receptacle in which the spores are developed in a closed cavity. In Gastromycetes sometimes called the uterus, the contents being the gleba. |
† 3. A hollow or cavity.
Obs.—1| 1693 Ray Three Disc. 137 The Tophus it self must have vegetated, containing a cavity or uterus of the shape of the Tooth, into which an osseous humour,..filling the cavity of the Uterus, must there have coagulated. |