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Ossicle vs Ossify - What's the difference?

ossicle | ossify |

As a noun ossicle

is (anatomy) a small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear.

As a verb ossify is

(ambitransitive) to transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone; particularly the processes of growth in humans and animals.

ossicle

Noun

(en noun)
  • (anatomy) A small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear.
  • The incus is one of the three auditory ossicles .
  • * 1836 , William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology , vol. 1, William Pickering, p. 174:
  • The eyeballs were surrounded by a ring of bones, the sclerotic ossicle , which probably protected their eyes when diving abruptly for prey.
  • (zoology) Bone-like joint or plate, especially:
  • # one of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes;
  • # one of the hard articuli or joints of the stem or branches of a crinoid or encrinite;
  • # one of the several small hard chitinous parts or processes of the gastric skeleton of crustaceans, as in the stomach of a lobster or crawfish.
  • # The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles , linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.
  • Synonyms

    * auditory bone * auditory ossicle * bonelet * ossicular chain * ossicule * ossiculum * otic bone

    Derived terms

    * ambulacral ossicle * Andernach's ossicles * cardiac ossicle * carpal ossicle * epactal ossicles * episternal ossicles * intercalcar ossicles * Kerckring's (Kerkring's) ossicle * marginal ossicles * ossicle of Bertin * ossicular * ossiculate * ossiculectomy * ossiculotomy * Riolan's ossicles * sphenoturbinal ossicle * tarsal ossicle * vertebral ossicle * Weberian ossicles * wormian ossicles

    See also

    * bone * incus * malleus * stapes

    Anagrams

    * ----

    ossify

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (ambitransitive) To transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone; particularly the processes of growth in humans and animals.
  • * 1884 , Arthur C. Cole, Studies in Microscopical Science , p. 35,
  • , nor do all bones of the same skeleton ossify during the sam? period of time.
  • (ambitransitive, animate) To become (or cause to become) inflexible and rigid in habits or opinions.
  • * 1996 , , The Art of the Long View , p. 96,
  • Before long, the entire organization ossifies .
  • * 2006 , Michael S. Jones, Metaphysics of Religion: Lucian Blaga and Contemporary Philosophy , p. 79,
  • Possession of absolute knowledge would ossify the human spirit, quenching human creativity;
  • (ambitransitive, inanimate) To grow (or cause to grow) formulaic and permanent.
  • * 1886 , ,
  • This accidental repartition gets repeated, develops advantages of its own, and gradually ossifies into a systematic division of labour.
  • * 2001 , , translated by Kevin O'Neill and David Suchoff, The Wisdom of Love , p. 55,
  • Now, in turn, we apply a revolutionary critique that ossifies into a rhetoric to become "the monstrous Latin of a monstrous church."
  • * 2005 , Michelle Goldberg, " The war on 'Munich'", Salon.com , December 20, 2005,
  • [T]he charge threatens to ossify into conventional wisdom before the movie's audience can get to theaters to see how misguided it is.
  • (rare) To calcify.
  • * 1850 , ,
  • The cartilages become brittle, and in many instances are ossified ; the ligaments are rendered harder, but are less capable of resisting extension.

    Synonyms

    * (become inflexible and rigid) harden