epididymis Anat.
(ɛpɪˈdɪdɪmɪs)
Also 7 epididimis, -damies.
[a. Gr. ἐπιδιδυµίς, f. ἐπί upon + δίδυµοι testicles.]
‘A long, narrow structure attached to the posterior border of the adjoining outer surface of the testicle, and consisting chiefly of coils of the efferent duct, which emerge from it as the vas deferens’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii, Shee must milke his Epididimis, Where is the Doxie? a 1652 Brome Court Beggar iv. iii, To save his Epididamies. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 480 Animalcules..being never found, unless in the cellules producing them, in the epididymis, the vas deferens and the vesicles. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 134 A convoluted epididymis-like mass of a yellowish colour. |
Hence ˌepididyˈmitis, Path. [see -itis], inflammation of the epididymis.
| 1849–52 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 991/1 A lad..affected with epididymitis. 1874 Van Buren Dis. Genit. Org. 63 In this way epididymitis may sometimes be averted. |