Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Thorax   Listen
noun
Thorax  n.  
1.
(Anat.) The part of the trunk between the neck and the abdomen, containing that part of the body cavity the walls of which are supported by the dorsal vertebrae, the ribs, and the sternum, and which the heart and lungs are situated; the chest. Note: In mammals the thoracic cavity is completely separated from the abdominal by the diaphragm, but in birds and many reptiles the separation is incomplete, while in other reptiles, and in amphibians and fishes, there is no marked separation and no true thorax.
2.
(Zool.)
(a)
The middle region of the body of an insect, or that region which bears the legs and wings. It is composed of three united somites, each of which is composed of several distinct parts.
(b)
The second, or middle, region of the body of a crustacean, arachnid, or other articulate animal. In the case of decapod Crustacea, some writers include under the term thorax only the three segments bearing the maxillipeds; others include also the five segments bearing the legs.
3.
(Antiq.) A breastplate, cuirass, or corselet; especially, the breastplate worn by the ancient Greeks.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Thorax" Quotes from Famous Books



... after following his hole about three feet under the footpath and to the edge of the roadbed, succeeded in capturing him and recovering the cicada. The hornet weighed fifteen grains, and the cicada nineteen; but in bulk the cicada exceeded the hornet by more than half. In color, the wings and thorax, or waist, of the hornet were a rich bronze; the abdomen was black, with three irregular yellow bands; the legs were large and powerful, especially the third or hindmost pair, which were much larger than the others, and armed with many ...
— The Writings of John Burroughs • John Burroughs

... experiment, for the Bee is constantly brushing her belly to detach the pollen and is sure to rub it off sooner or later. I therefore make another one, dropping the sticky chalk right in the middle of the thorax, between the wings. ...
— The Mason-bees • J. Henri Fabre

... understand it——" Miss Wilkes had become queerly penetrative, and spoke in a way that made one think of a beetle being pinned through the thorax, "——that David Cairns merely used his artistic intelligence for our entertainment; that Andrew Bedient is merely an interesting type of sailor and wanderer who has ...
— Fate Knocks at the Door - A Novel • Will Levington Comfort

... Correspondent of 'the Field' records an experiment which he made with a wasp. 'Having,' he says, 'severed a wasp in two pieces, I found that the head and thorax with the uninjured wings retained full vitality.... It tried to fly, but evidently lacked the necessary balance through the loss of the abdomen. To test the matter further, I cut out an artificial ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., Nov. 1, 1890 • Various

... the thorax with all aseptic precautions, and collect as much blood as possible from the heart with a sterile ...
— The Elements of Bacteriological Technique • John William Henry Eyre

... Artery, fill'd with injection; And B was a Brick, never caught at dissection. C were some Chemicals—lithium and borax; And D was a Diaphragm, flooring the thorax. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, November 27, 1841 • Various

... have a severe sore throat. The journals in Mr. Slang's interest deplored this illness pathetically; while the papers in the interest of the opposition theatre magnified it with great malice. "The new singer," said one, "the great wonder which Slang promised us, is as hoarse as a RAVEN!" "Doctor Thorax pronounces," wrote another paper, "that the quinsy, which has suddenly prostrated Mrs. Ravenswing, whose singing at the Philharmonic, previous to her appearance at the 'T.R——,' excited so much applause, has destroyed the lady's voice for ever. We luckily need no other prima donna, when that ...
— Men's Wives • William Makepeace Thackeray

... that the Fourth is the day when your patriotic voice should climb out of your thorax and make the welkin ring, but it isn't really necessary to get up a row between a stick of dynamite and a keg of giant powder to prove that you love the cause ...
— Skiddoo! • Hugh McHugh

... consequently greatly preponderate in size over the fore, in the Chiroptera the fore-limbs, being the agents in propelling the body forward during flight, immensely exceed the short and weak hinder extremities. The thorax, giving origin to the great muscles which sustain flight, and containing the proportionately large lungs and heart, is remarkably capacious; and the ribs are flattened and close together; while the shoulder-girdle is greatly developed in comparison with the ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" • Various

... Hymenoptera, the Sphex, assures food for the early days of the life of its larvae in a curious way.[7] Before laying its eggs it seizes a cricket, paralyses it with two strokes of its sting—one at the articulation of the head and the neck, the other at the articulation of the first ring of the thorax with the second—each stab traversing and poisoning a nervous ganglion. The cricket is paralysed without being killed; its flesh does not putrefy, and yet it makes no movement. The Sphex places an egg on this motionless prey, and the larva which emerges from ...
— The Industries of Animals • Frederic Houssay

... nurseries surrounding it on all sides; and all are connected by arched galleries, long passages, and doorways of the most intricate and elaborate construction. In the centre and underneath the spacious dome is the recess for the queen—a hideous creature, with the head and thorax of an ordinary termite, but a body swollen to a hundred times its usual and proportionate bulk, and presenting the appearance of a mass of shapeless pulp. From this great progenitrix proceed the myriads that people ...
— Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon • J. Emerson Tennent

... Serums.—Every precaution must be taken to prevent organismal contamination of the serum or of the apparatus by means of which it is injected. Syringes are so made that they can be sterilised by boiling. The best situations for injection are under the skin of the abdomen, the thorax, or the buttock, and the skin should be purified at the seat of puncture. If the bulk of the full dose is large, it should be divided and injected into different parts of the body, not more than 20 c.c. being ...
— Manual of Surgery - Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. • Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

... subject. So for ten months I kept some cases lying on their backs with the feet up and photographed them in that position. I had to discover for myself that caterpillars that pupate in the ground change to the moth form with the feet and legs folded around the under side of the thorax, the wings wrap over them, and the tongue case bends UNDER and is fastened between ...
— Moths of the Limberlost • Gene Stratton-Porter

... subject is given super-sensorial impressions enabling him to see objects that he could not otherwise perceive. To enable his subject to discern things on the other side of a wall, Professor Calligaris pressed on a spot to the right of the thorax for fifteen minutes. Dr. Calligaris said that if other spots of the body were agitated, the subjects could see objects at any distance, regardless of whether they had ever before seen ...
— Autobiography of a YOGI • Paramhansa Yogananda

... their assignment." The ant's voice seemed to be coming from the very core of its thorax which was ...
— Martian V.F.W. • G.L. Vandenburg

... navel in about 1 per cent.). While the hair in this subject was otherwise fairly normal, there were many approximations to the masculine type in other respects: the muscles were strongly developed, the bones massive, the limbs long, the joints powerful, the hands and feet large, the thorax well developed, the lower jaw massive; there was an absence of feminine curves on the body and the breasts were scarcely perceptible. At the same time the genital organs were normal and there had been childbirth. It was further notable that this woman had committed suicide ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... crushing clasp and, as Fisette darted in, opened his arms wide, took the punishment of a savage blow in the face, and closing his embrace, enwrapped his enemy in a suffocating hug. It was to the death, for a brown thumb was digging into his thorax and he felt ...
— The Rapids • Alan Sullivan

... that I am not able to give the detailed characters of this genus at present. I shall merely, therefore, say that it has the broken clavate antennae of Phalidura, only they are here longer than the head and thorax taken together. The body is very convex:, having the thorax as wide as the abdomen, subquadrate, with very convex sides. Abdomen joined to thorax by a distinct peduncle. Elytra very convex, with almost perpendicular sides. Feet long, ...
— Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia] [Volume 2 of 2] • Phillip Parker King

... and still nothing happened. Now and then he'd come into the club with a kind of cloud on his shining morning face, and I'd know that there had been doings in the home; but it wasn't till well on in the spring that he got the thunderbolt just where he had been asking for it—in the thorax. ...
— My Man Jeeves • P. G. Wodehouse

... Thing, any io. Think pensi. Thinker pensulo. Think over pripensi. Thirst soifo. Thirsty, to be soifi. This tio cxi. This (demon, pron.) tiu cxi. Thistle kardo. Thong ledrimeno. Thorax brustkesto. Thorn dorno. Thorough plenega. Thoroughfare trairejo. Thou ci, vi. Though kvankam. Thought penso, pensado. Thoughtful pripensa. Thoughtless senpripensa. Thraldom servuto. Thrash drasxi, bategi. Thread fadeno. Threadbare eluza, eluzita. ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... is distinguished very conspicuously by his dark-blue and checked dress, his peaked turban, often surmounted with steel quoits, and by the fact of his strutting about like Ali Baba's prince with his 'thorax and abdomen festooned with curious cutlery.' He is most particular in retaining the five Kakkas, and in preserving every outward form prescribed by Guru Govind Singh. Some of the Akalis wear a yellow turban underneath the blue one, leaving ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) • R.V. Russell

... one of which is of such enormous size as to resemble the Aranea avicularia of America. This species stands on an area of about three inches, and never spins a web, but wanders about and lives in holes; his length of limb, breadth of thorax and powerful jaws give him a most formidable appearance. There is another species of a large-sized spider who spins a web of about two and a half feet in diameter. This is composed of a strong, yellow, silky fibre, and so powerful is the texture that a moderate-sized walking-cane thrown into the ...
— Eight Years' Wandering in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker

... we could scarcely distinguish, seemed covered with animated sparks. Lucien opened his eyes very widely indeed, not being in the least able to understand this phenomenon, which was produced by thousands of elaterides, insects which have on each side of the thorax a yellowish spot which ...
— Adventures of a Young Naturalist • Lucien Biart



Words linked to "Thorax" :   pectoralis, chest, body, thoracic vein, craniate, female chest, bust, arthropod, trunk, torso, breast, pectus, thoracic aorta, sternum, chest cavity, musculus pectoralis, male chest, gall bladder, vena thoracica, gallbladder, body part, rib cage, thoracic cavity



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com