‖ pubes
(ˈpjuːbiːz)
[L. pūbēs, -is the pubic hair; the groin, private parts.]
1. The pubic hair.
| c 1570 W. Wager The longer thou livest 1572 (Brandl) In adolencie when Pubes was springing. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pubes, the Hair on the Privy Parts. 1706 in Phillips. |
2. The hypogastric region, which in the adult becomes covered with hair.
| 1682 T. Gibson Anat. (1697) 7 The Pubes, which in the adult or ripe of age is covered with hair. 1840 G. V. Ellis Anat. 484 The pyramidalis muscle is placed in the abdominal wall close above the pubes. |
b. Erron. for os pubis, the pubic bone: = pubis 1.
| 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 304 The pelvic arch..consists [on each side] of three pieces—the ilium, ischium, and pubes—which are usually anchylosed together. |
c. Erron. pl. of pubis (in sense 1) for ossa pubis.
| 1841 Ramsbotham Obstetr. Med. 29 In the female..the rami of the ischia and pubes are smoother on their inner surface. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 190 In Reptiles we find a pair of separate bones, usually called the pubes. |
† 3. = puberty 1. Obs.
| 1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 142 After hee attaines unto the age which they call Pubes. |
4. Zool. and Bot. = pubescence 2, 3.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxix. 58 The acquisition of certain organs, &c. as of teeth, pubes, feathers, &c. 1858 Mayne Expos. Lex., Pubes... Bot.,..a term for the kind of down on the leaves..of certain plants: pubescence. |