lachrymal, a. and n.
(ˈlækrɪməl)
Also 6 lachrimall, 6–7 lachrymall, 8– lacrimal, 8–9 lacrymal.
[ad. med.L. lacrimālis, lachrymālis (Lanfranc), f. L. lacrima, lacruma, OL. dacruma, cognate with Gr. δάκρυ a tear. Cf. OF. lacrimel, lachrymal (F. lacrimal).
The ch of the prevailing spelling of this and the related words is due to the med.L. practice of writing ch for c before Latin r; cf. anchor, pulchritude, sepulchre. The y, in med.L. a mere graphic variant of i, has been retained in mod. Eng. orthography from the erroneous notion that lacrima is an adoption of Gr. δάκρῡµα. The etymologically correct form lacrimal is now usual in scientific use.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to tears; occas. characterized by, or indicative of, weeping. Of a vase: Intended to contain tears.
| 1771 [see urn n. 4 c]. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus (1809) III. iii. 70 A lachrymal scene. 1809 W. Irving Knickb. (1861) 149 Collecting the drops of public sorrow into his volume, as into a lachrymal vase. 1809 Syd. Smith Methodism Wks. 1854 I. 299 The lachrymal and suspirious clergy. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend ix, Small⁓bones made up a lachrymal face. 1855 Bain Senses & Intell. ii. iv. §22 (1864) 297 The lachrymal effusion is an accompaniment of grief. |
2. Anat. and Phys. Applied to the organs concerned in the secretion of tears, as lachrymal canal, lachrymal duct, lachrymal gland, lachrymal sac, etc., and to structures forming part of these organs, as lachrymal bone, lachrymal sinus, etc. lachrymal fistula, one situated between the skin of the cheek and the interior of the lachrymal sac.
| [c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 252 Fistula lacrimalis.] 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 40/1 Archigenes hath cauterised the lachrimall fistles with liquefacted leade. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 367 The fistulaes which are between the lachrymall corners of the eies and the nose. 1696 Phillips, Lachrymal-Point [= L. punctum lachrymale], a Hole in the Bone of the Nose, by which the matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. I. s.v. Eye, It..readily closes up all lacrimal Fistulas. 1780 W. Blizard in Phil. Trans. LXX. 239 The internal surface of the lachrymal sac. 1787 Hunter Ibid. LXXVII. 438 The lachrymal gland is small. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 78 From these lachrymal ducts..the tears flow through the ducts of the nasal bones. 1855 Holden Human Osteol. (1878) 101 The lachrymal bone is situated..on the inner wall of the orbit. 1868 Nat. Encycl. I. 803 Many antelopes possess lachrymal or sub-orbital sinuses. 1872 Huxley Physiol. ix. 235 The secretion of the lachrymal canal is carried away as fast as it forms. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 27 The lachrymal apparatus consists of the gland for secreting tears and the passages for draining them off. 1913 Gray's Anat. (ed. 18) 960 The lacrimal [ed. 17 (1909): lachrymal] ducts or canals..commence at minute orifices, termed puncta lacrimalia. 1913 Cunningham's Text-bk. Anat. (ed. 4) 824 The lacrimal gland..is supplied by the sympathetic and lacrimal nerves. [Ed. 3 (1909): lachrymal.] 1919 Lancet 10 May 792/2 During the stage of surgical anæsthesia the lacrymal glands cease to secrete. 1919 Physiol. Abstr. IV. 183 [From abstract of article containing the prec. quot.] The lacrimal gland in anæsthesia. 1950 D. B. Kirby Surg. Cataract xii. 276/1 Care must be exercised to prevent the solution from going through the lacrimal duct to the nose. 1954 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 12) xxxiii. 543 The lacrimal apparatus consists of the lacrimal glands and the lacrimal passages. [Edd. 1 (1907)–11 (1948): lacrymal.] 1968 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxiv. 54/2 The cornea is continually bathed by the secretion of the lacrimal glands. |
3. nonce-uses. Resembling a tear or tears.
| 1607 Brewer Lingua iv. i. H, A great quantity of drop shot both round and lachrimall. 1829 Galt in Blackw. Mag. XXVI. 143 The milk was pale and lachrymal. |
B. n.
1. a. pl. The lachrymal organs.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. P j b, Lykewyse they [cauteres] be applyed to y⊇ lachrymalles to consume the superflue flesshe. 1844 [see lachrymatory B. 2]. |
b. Anat. A lachrymal bone.
| 1872 Mivart Anat. 85 The lachrymals are small bones, one of which is placed at the anterior part of the inner wall of each orbit. |
2. pl. Lachrymal performances; fits of weeping.
| 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) VI. xlv. 291 Something..that made her laugh in the midst of her lacrymals. 1789 C. Smith Ethelinde (1814) IV. 28 Do have done with these perpetual lachrymals. 1931 M. Summers Supernatural Omnibus 31 What an event [in Dickens] was a funeral from a house! The way to all these sadly sentimental lachrymals had been paved before by the lugubrious cortèges of the time of Anne. |
3. = lachrymatory n. 1.
| 1769 R. Griffith Gordian Knot II. 16 Certain urns, stiled Lachrymals. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's Roost (1855) 94 His rooms were decorated with..old vases, lachrymals, and sepulchral lamps. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. 31, I would but turn these lachrymals to use, Fill them with fresh oil. |