- semicircular canal
- nounone of three tube loops filled with fluid and in planes nearly at right angles with one another; concerned with equilibrium• Hypernyms: ↑sense organ, ↑sensory receptor, ↑receptor• Part Holonyms: ↑inner ear, ↑internal ear, ↑labyrinth, ↑vestibular apparatus, ↑vestibular system
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noun: any one of the loop-shaped tubular parts of the membranous labyrinth of the ear that together constitute a sensory organ associated with the maintenance of bodily equilibrium, each canal communicating by either end with the utriculus, having near one end an expanded ampulla that contains an area of sensory epithelium, being enclosed in a corresponding canal of the bony labyrinth, and in all vertebrates above cyclostomes forming one of a group of three in each ear usually in planes nearly at right angles with one another* * *
Anat.any of the three curved tubular canals in the labyrinth of the ear, associated with the sense of equilibrium. See diag. under ear.[1740-50]* * *
semicircular canal UK US noun [countable] [singular semicircular canal plural semicircular canals] medicalone of the three tubes in your inner ear that is shaped like half of a circle and is important for balance* * *
semicircular canal,any one of three curved, tubelike canals in the inner ear that help to maintain balance.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.