hare-lip
(ˈhɛəˈlɪp)
Also 8 hair-.
[f. hare n. + lip.]
1. Fissure of the upper lip, caused by the arrest of development in the upper lip or jaw; so called from the resemblance to the cleft lip of a hare.
| 1567 Harman Caveat 82 Wylliam Coper with the Harelyp. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 418 Neuer mole, harelip, nor scarre. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. i. ii. (1678) 2 The Chirurgeon..cicatriceth cloven lips, commonly called Hare-lips. 1785 R. Cumberland in Observer No. 98 ¶11 [He] had a remarkable hair-lip, which exposed to view a broken row of discoloured teeth. 1855 Holden Hum. Osteol. (1878) 98 In cases of double hare-lip, where the fissure is not confined to skin, the pre-maxillary bones on each side fail to unite with the rest of the upper jaw. |
2. hare-lip sucker, a fish, Quassilabia lacera, of the Ohio river and its tributaries, remarkable for the conformation of the mouth.
Hence hare-lipped (-lɪpt) a., having the upper lip cleft like the hare.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 208 If the childe prove not Hare-lipt. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 277, I spoke..to a hair-lipped warrior among them. 1854 Badham Halieut. 114 The hideous, hare-lipped uranoscopus..the singular position of whose eyes attracted early the attention of naturalists. |