‖ glans
(glænz)
[L. glans acorn, cognate with the synonymous Gr. βάλανος; cf. gland.]
1. Anat. The glans penis.
So Gr. βάλανος (Aristotle); L. glans penis is in Celsus.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 202 Buttoning up the Prepuce with a Brasse or Silver-button on both sides of the Glans. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 509 The prepuce must be..divided, in order to..set the imprisoned glans at liberty. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 818 The Glans (Balanus) of the penis. 1881 Mivart Cat 241 The distal end of the organ is called the glans. |
2. Bot. (See quots.)
| 1704 in Harris Lex. Techn. 1866 Treas. Bot. 533/1 Glans, an inferior fruit, one-celled by abortion, not dehiscing, containing one or two seeds, and seated in a cupule; as in the acorn. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. 296 The nut is often enclosed or surrounded by a kind of involucre, termed a Cupule; such as the cup at the base of the acorn, the bur of the chestnut, and the leaf-like covering of the hazel-nut. The name Glans (sometimes Gland in English) is technically applied to such nuts. |