1.
[syn: acetabulum, cotyloid cavity]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Acetabulum \Ac`e*tab"u*lum\, n. [L., a little saucer for
vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour.]
[1913 Webster]
1. (Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a
measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Anat.)
(a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh
bone.
(b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted
at its articulation with the body.
(c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related
animals.
(d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches.
(e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating
animals.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
acetabulum
n 1: the cup-shaped hollow in the hipbone into which the head of
the femur fits to form a ball-and-socket joint [syn:
acetabulum, cotyloid cavity]